Madhouse
by Trexmaster
Summary: Two forces keep the balance in this world. Zerstorung, Known to most as the God of Destruction; and Melody. Though when Zerstorung disrupts the balance and attacks an unprepared Earth, Melody has to intervene- soon recruiting the retired RED mercenaries.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

* * *

On a warm summer day in the city of Tours, there lived a young man named Miyoti Takatzi, who had just awoken from the faint ringing of a nearby alarm clock. He swiftly prepared for the day and headed downstairs to be greeted by his parents. His father was sitting quietly in the dining room skimming through the Sunday paper as his mother was preparing coffee in the other room

"Huh, apparently those two companies that were battling it out went bankrupt," remarked his father, as Miyoti entered the room

"Good morning, Miyoti."

"Good morning dad, get anything today?"

"There's a letter for you, not sure who it's from but I don't think its junk mail," his father said pointing at a pile of unopened letters. Miyoti began to sift through the pile searching for the one pertaining to him as stumbled upon a letter with his name in the corner.

"Honey, do you think you could pick up a few things at the store for me?"

"Like what?"

"Just milk and bread, though we are running out of eggs," replied Miyoti's mother as she scanned the refrigerator. After reading through the letter Miyoti told his father what it said

"They want you to go all the way to Paris? Why?"

"I'm not sure, they just want me to show up at this address," Miyoti quickly pointing at the return address on the envelope.

"Well then I'm coming with you."

"Actually the letter said to come alone."

"Then you're not going," his father replied staunchly. "Now I don't want to hear anymore about this, I'm heading to the store and you'd better just tear up that letter and forget all about it," On his way out he downed a small cup of coffee and kissed his wife goodbye as he made his way out the door.

"Don't let him get to you; he just wants you to be safe."

"Yea but mom, I really want to know what's up with this letter."

"Well some things are better left unsolved," Miyoti was unsatisfied with this answer, and sought to discover who had sent that letter. Miyoti wove goodbye to his mother as he mounted his bicycle and headed towards his friend Jean-Paul's house.

"Be back here by five!" his mother shouted as he disappeared into the quaint town. Miyoti at arrived at an apartment building between two businesses, "Chez Marc" and "Le Guitare Endroit". He made his way inside and headed to the 3rd floor, where Jean-Paul lived. Miyoti knocked on the door marked "105" until someone opened it.

"Hello, may I help you?" asked the woman.

"Yes, I was wondering if I could speak to Jean-Paul, I'm Miyoti."

"Oh, are you one of his friends?"

"As I matter of fact, I am."

"I'll tell him you're here," she shut the door and disappeared into the apartment, Miyoti could barely make out what she was saying.

"Jean-Paul one of your friends is at the door!"

"Tell them I'm not here."

"Now come on, it's one of your friends, go answer the door."

"I already told you, I'm not here," the door reopened as Miyoti expected it to be Jean-Paul; it was simply the woman again.

"He isn't here, come back later."

"But I just heard him a couple minutes ago."

"Nope, I'd just go if I were you," Miyoti simply thanked her for her time and walked back to the staircase muttering under his breath.

"Well maybe I'll just check out the place myself," he thought to himself "But then there's dad..." And as quickly as his plan formed it crumbled. He took a quick glance at his wrist-watch and noticed it was quarter to five, and made his way home, though still conjuring an idea to investigate the source of the letter.

Back at the Takatzi residence, several men exited a car parked nearby and headed towards the front door; one was a slender man donning a red shirt with two logos on it, one on each shoulder. The other man was black, and wore a small eye-patch over his right eye and wore a Kevlar jacket. Mrs. Takatzi heard multiple knocks on the door, and as she opened it the two men quickly subdued her. Miyoti had just reached his house, and noticed there was a camper van in the driveway, so he decided to head inside to query his mother about it. As he entered the house he noticed her tied to a chair in the dining room, he went to untie her but was assaulted by the tall man, and knocked unconscious.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

* * *

"You think this is the one?"

"I hope so, we've broken into three different houses, and she did say it was a boy round his age that she needed…"

"Ye better hope that's the right lad, or we may get the boot for bringing the wrong one," the two men headed outside, with the tall man having slung over his shoulder the unconscious body of Miyoti "Why did ya live in this darn thing anyways?" retorted the other man pointing at the camper van parked awkwardly in the small driveway.

"Didn't have to pay no rent, wherever I went it went, and it helped save me time and money when I was out on the job."

"What is your job nowadays?"

"Just what my old job was, mate, killing people," the tall man walked into the driver's seat of the van, as the black man loaded Miyoti into the back of it.

"Wait; didn't she give us an address?"

"Let me see," the tall man replied as he rummaged through the glove compartment "Oh here it is, yeah, she did but I suppose I must've lost in it in all this junk and only remembered part of it…"

"Well if she asks we only broke into this lad's house," as the black man jumped into the passenger seat, the tall man's phone began to ring.

"Hello?"

"Did you get the right person?"

"We think we did, his surname is Takatzi, I can see by their mailbox..."

"Okay good, return here as soon as possible, sniper," he hung up the phone and returned it to his pocket. As the two began their drive to Paris, they heard a faint ringing noise.

"Is that your phone?"

"I don't think so, I'll take a look," as the sniper reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone the black man pointed into the back of the van.

"That ringing is coming from the back!"

"I'll pull over," the sniper swiftly steered the van into the edge of the road and brought it to a halt, as the black man climbed into the back. He took a look around, until he noticed it was coming from the pants pocket of Miyoti, he quickly reached in and took the object, it was indeed a phone.

"Hello? Miyoti answer me!" the black man thought of response.

"This isn't Miyoti; I believe you have the wrong number."

"I swore I dialed the right number, if this isn't Miyoti then who is this?" the black man looked back at the sniper, and tilted his head toward the passenger-side window. The sniper arose from his seat and slid the window back, and as he did the black man chucked the phone out it, watching as it was quickly destroyed by the passing traffic.

"Was that really necessary?"

"I had nothing to say, and we don't need him finding out where we are," the black man retorted "Let's just keep going he can't do anything to us with all the connections we've amassed with the authorities here."

"Far as they're concerned nothing happened," the sniper put the van back in drive and resumed his path on the road.

"God damn it, I told him not to go out to that place by himself," Miyoti's father muttered, pacing back and forth.

"Look Marc, I'm sure he'll turn up."

"No, he won't, I called his phone and some man with a Scottish accent picked it up saying I dialed the wrong number, what kind of bullshit is that?" Marc walked up to the door after contacting the local police, his wife sitting nervously on the staircase nearby.

"If only he listened to me about that place."

"Curiosity killed the cat, huh?"

"More like our son." Marc quietly returned to the door, when he heard a siren "Oh good, they're here." Marc raced out the door to meet with the police officer as his wife walked out onto the porch.

"You called about someone kidnapping your son, Mr. Takatzi?"

"Yes, I did, I assumed so because when I dialed his cell-phone number I just got some strange Scottish sounding man on the other line," Marc quickly told the officer.

"Alright, we could trace the number, it'd give us a rough area of where to search," the officer and two other officers, along with Marc and his wife entered the house as Marc reached for the phone and dialed.

"…Phone's off."

"Well do you have any idea what they looked like?"

"I can answer that," As marc's wife prepared to give said answer.

"They attacked me when I opened the door, I got a quick look at them though and one was black and had an eye-patch over his right-eye."

"There were two?"

"Oh yea, the other one was pretty tall, wore a pair of sunglasses and brown hat."

"We'll try our best, ma'am, and thanks for your cooperation," the officer walked towards his car along with the others, one of them shouting.

"We'll keep a good eye out in this area; we'll call if we see anyone resembling the two you described!" As Marc's wife shut the door she saw him turn to her.

"Well, we know for sure that one of those bastards is the one I talked to on his phone, if those cops don't get results within the week I'm going after them myself."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

* * *

"Ah bloody hell, that's the last time we drive this thing more than 10 miles," said the black man, exiting the van as it stopped in front of a tall ominous building.

"Alright, I'll carry the boy in; he won't be up for another hour or so, thank me for always carrying tranquilizers," the sniper said as he slung the body over his shoulder and walked into the building with the black man at his side. "Hey demo, what do you even do for this place anyways?"

"I've got a name unlike you, and for your information it's the same as usual, blowing things up."

"And that name is?"

"It's the Tavish, Tavish Degroot."

"I don't worry much about names, mate, name isn't any good when you're a tally on the board." The two boarded an elevator not too far from the door they had entered, the demoman hit the bold number eight on the key-pad and waited as the elevator rose. Up at the eighth floor, a man in a military-uniform awkwardly colored red, with a helmet that covered half of his face, leaned his hand against the wall. As he awaited the dim number eight to light up, signaling whoever it was had arrived. The elevator door slowly opened as the demoman and the sniper were greeted by a shotgun's barrel.

"Hand's Up Intruders!" The two quickly raised their arms.

"Soldier, it's us you wanker!" The soldier slowly put down his shotgun.

"My bad, but one day it will be an intruder riding in that elevator!"

"Yea, sure; we got the boy Melody was looking for, where is she?" the sniper queried, as the demoman took the dropped body of Miyoti onto his shoulder.

"Oh yea, she's in her office as usual just waiting on you bums to finish the job."

"Alright then, come on demoman; let's hurry up so we can find out when we start doing something interesting," the demoman and the sniper headed down the hallway and entered a spacious office, with multiple screens lining the southern wall in perfect order, all displaying different cities and streets of France.

"Ah, you two made it, with Miyoti I presume?" echoed a voice from the distance.

"Yup, here he is, now what's our reward?" demanded the demoman, laying the body onto the large desk, watching as the chair behind it spun to reveal a woman in a blue colored colonel uniform.

"Oh, yes, this is the right one, I thought you two would break into more houses than that..."

"Listen lady we aren't that bad," the demoman yelled, only to fall down in a drunken stupor "alright... Maybe… maybe we are."

"My job is killing people, not stealing little children."

"I understand that, sniper, but you work for me now and your abilities are flexible."

"But-"

"I said, flexible, you will do whatever I assign you or risk losing your job; Almost forgot, here is your reward," She slammed a briefcase onto the desk, and handed it to the sniper, he eagerly snapped it open to reveal seventy-five thousand Francs "Split it evenly, that's for both of you," she nudged the two out as they bickered over the possession of the briefcase.

The soldier noticed the two walking angrily out from the office.

"What? Did you not get paid?"

"Oh we did, just that we have to split this briefcase full of money."

"How much is in the thing?" The sniper walked over to the soldier and noticed there wasn't any furniture around, and pointed towards a room opposite of them "Oh yeah, I'll be right out with the tables and chairs, had to take them out to get the place spotless, though I do all the moving, the medic does a pretty fine job cleaning," The sniper and the demoman waited in the open room as the soldier returned with a long square table and recliner "Alright, hold on still some more," The soldier disappeared again into the room, this time returning with a large television and another recliner "demoman, hook this up while me and sniper chat," the soldier asked him, holding out the television in his direction, a large 22" though luckily for him light weight.

"Alright so where were we?"

"You were going to tell me how much money is in that there briefcase," The sniper snapped the briefcase open to reveal several one-hundred Franc bills lined side-by-side. "Wow that's a lot, never seen that much in one spot before other than pay-day, sweet, sweet pay-day."

"Yea, we need to divvy this up apparently, help me count the money," the two began slapping bills onto the table as they slowly counted to themselves as the demoman finished installing the television, atop it stood a small antenna which he pointed upwards as he began fiddling with the remote he had found taped to it.

"Eh look at this," the demoman said, pointing at the screen as a news story was being run.

"We're busy, demoman; bug us in about 2 minutes."

"I think this is pertaining to the lad we stole"

"What?" the sniper quickly dropped the money he was holding and was instantly glued to the screen.

"Merely two hours ago, Miyoti Takatzi, age fifteen, was kidnapped from his home and driven off to an unknown location," the television blared "Police have only determined that there are two suspects, one Tavish Degroot, and an unknown man who drove the getaway car, a camper van which authorities are currently working on tracking down," the television continued to ramble as the sniper angrily got up, the soldier still counting the numerous Francs thrown about the room.

"Well, if they want in, they'll get in, though the only way out is in a body bag," cheered the demoman, proudly displaying his weapon, a device that when fired launches up to eight mines that could stick to any surface, and could be detonated at his whim.

"Lets hope it don't come down to that, demoman," The sniper eyeing the window for any signs of their having been discovered.

Miyoti slowly opened his eyes, and didn't see his own room, nor did he see his own house. He jumped up, and realized he was in a small room, almost like a jail cell.

"Oh, you're awake I see," echoed a feminine voice.

"Where am I, and who are you?" Miyoti shouted, as the voice identified itself.

"I am Melody, I am the one who sent you that letter, and you are in a holding cell I hastily made within my private business, the World-wide Protection Agency, or just WPA for short."

"What have you done to my parents?"

"They're still looking for you I presume, but I'll handle that, what I need is your help."

"Well if you need my help why am I locked in here?"

"Because, we had to take you by force considering your father did not seem quite on the up and up about the situation," Melody walked over to the cell and unlocked it, allowing Miyoti to roam freely through her office, though he headed straight for the door.

"I wouldn't walk out there if I were you; there are several bloody-thirsty mercenaries I've hired simply waiting out there for the slightest twitch to shoot at," Miyoti stopped, and turned back to Melody.

"Why do you need me here though? I simply want to live a normal life."

"Well I'm afraid that won't be possible, I need you because I made a deal with your grand-father two score ago that I could train you to be my ace in the hole."

"And what did he get?"

"He was easily persuaded by a few thousand Francs, though that was worth much more at the time than it is now," Melody turned her attention to a small closet "Now that I have you here we can began your training; let me show you these," she proceeded to withdraw two wrist-blades from the closet, and place them onto her desk. "This is a prototype of what I've been working on the past couple years, trying to one-up my brother in the field of weaponry."

"Who is your brother?"

"Oh that's a story saved best for later, now, back to the weapon; It is connected to the user in way so that it can simply be activated by a thought, well, the retraction of the blades on it," Melody glumly proclaimed.

"Is that it?"

"Like I said, Miyoti, It's a mere prototype and I plan on adding many more things to it in the future, but I should test it while I can; here, put them on" she handed the weapons to Miyoti "Now, the blades are stored within the device when it's not being used, easily concealed and probably already thought of, but this one can be triggered by mere thought!"

"You already said that."

"Oh shut up and put the damn things on," Miyoti shrugged the comment off as he attached the cylindrical devices onto his arms "In about 10 seconds it's going to hurt like hell."

"Wait wha- " before he could finish his sentence the device swiftly drilled into his arm and attached itself to him, the device being the only thing keeping him from massive blood loss. "Why…Why didn't you… tell me about that horribly intense pain," Miyoti begged whilst kneeling on the floor, still writhing from the pain

"If I told you that you would've never put them on," Miyoti took a deep breath and rose to his feet.

"I suppose…"

"Don't worry, you aren't injured really, the device merely became a part of you by connecting sensors which in turn relay brain waves into commands for its internal computer to process, which at the moment is simply on and off."

"Alright, so how do I make the blade come out?"

"Simply think of something that makes you angry, and to retract it, think of something that makes you happy."

"Worth a shot," Miyoti thought back to when he was in elementary school, his father never let him go on any field trips due to his paranoia of losing him; the blades shot out in a quick burst

"Now retract them…" He thought of being able to go home again, and not having to worry about any of this; the blades vanished as quickly as they appeared. "Bravo, I see you've learnt them fairly easily, now to brief you on what I expect of you," Miyoti listened intently, seeing as he was stuck here for as long as she deemed fit "Now our main threat is my brother, Zerstorung, many years ago he attacked this planet, but I managed to save the day due to our balance of power. "

"Now wait, who is Zerstorung exactly?"

"My brother, he is also a man of immense power and cruelty."

"Would that be power as in political control, or beat-em up power?"

"I would say a bit of both, though he does have the powers of a god, like me" Miyoti paused for a second, trying to comprehend what he had heard.

"…A god?"

"If I had to generalize, I'd call him the God of Destruction, and I the God of Creation; generic yes but it drives the point."

"Kind of like mythology and what not?"

"I suppose, despite his powers though Zerstorung chooses to toy with his prey, he simply does these horrible things for his own amusement," Melody was about to continue the conversation when the demoman ran into the room.

"I think we have a big problem out yonder," he said as he causally pointed out a nearby window, to several squad cars with numerous gunmen prepared to take their shot.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Melody grinned,"Oh perfect, Miyoti, follow me, the demoman tell the sniper he can go ahead and take as many pot-shots as he wants as soon as I give the signal."

"Aye, ma'am," He slowly walked back to the others as Melody motioned Miyoti out of her office and into a nearby room.

"This is the armory we use for my select group; the other workers are distributed between the other floors."

"…Other workers?"

"Ah yes, I use them like Zerstorung use's his minions, I pay them little and pay little attention to them; seems cruel yes, but It is efficient as long as they're paid well enough to satisfy their needs; they also take residence here," shots rang as multiple bullets passed by Miyoti's head, leaving three small holes in the wall in front of him. "No time to talk, here take this," Melody quickly handed Miyoti a uniform that consisted of a gas-mask that would provide protection from most bullets and Arm and Leg guards that covered them with a thick-metallic plate. "Take the elevator and get cracking, no one will recognize you If you just keep that mask on; the blades go with the uniform, they'll work fine," Melody shoved Miyoti into the elevator and reached inside, mashed the bold number one, and waved goodbye as the door sealed him away.

"I'll take those three bullets as my signal, boss," hastily replied the sniper as the elevator began its departure

"Just wait, If Miyoti goes down then you can start shooting."

"Fine by me, I want a nice show," The soldier sifted through the piles of Francs and turned to the sniper.

"I divvyed it up and you and the demoman get thirty-seven thousand each."

"Good, could use that for more bullets or perhaps an alternative to this stupid dot that gives me away to my target," Melody approached one of the windows, noticing that the gunmen outside were in fact officers, and that Miyoti had made his way down there. She saw him raise his arms in the air, and begin to walk towards the group of officers. People outside believed that it was the kidnapper, one of the officers ran to Miyoti with a gun pointed to his head.

"Get on the ground right now!" Miyoti wanted to submit, but couldn't bring himself to the ground. The officer held the gun at point-blank and repeated himself, he began to turn to the officer and without a thought, had impaled the officer in the head using his blade, and began to slowly crank it out, resulting in a gory mess. The other officers were quick to fire at him upon seeing this, only to have most of the bullets deflected by armor provided by Melody, Miyoti leapt into the crowd and begin tearing into them, much to Melody's delight.

"Oh they work! This is wonderful isn't it?" she proclaimed to the sniper.

"Got to admit that's one impressive design you have there, works like a charm, now just make some way for him to fight at range; now that would be something spectacular," the sniper turned from the window to the soldier "Soldier, where is the medic exactly?"

"Seventh floor, he said he had some guy to work on, not to bother him."

"Well all those years of medical school he was forced to take before joining paid off finally."

"Sure did, but I still don't trust him, he seems a bit off."

"He is a bit off, always has been, loony quack," the sniper turned back to the window "Crikey, they're all dead, where's the boy?" he asked in a worried tone to Melody.

"I think he headed back in; I need to make some calls to get this cleared up; the demoman would you be a dear and head downstairs to clean all that up?"

"I'll get right on it," as the demoman headed to the elevator nearby, he noticed the numbered lights beside it began to lower "Well I can wait," the demoman took a seat while he waited for it to return, while the soldier holstered his shotgun.

"Maybe, just maybe, it'll be someone I can shoot!" the soldier chuckled, and loaded several slugs into his gun.

"I'm sure it's just Miyoti, soldier, you can put the gun down," Melody affirmed him.

"Come on, I already loaded it, at least let me take the shot."

"Fine, go ahead and shoot whoever comes up, I really don't care," the soldier happily aimed his gun at the entrance of the elevator, as the numbered lights began to rise. Melody walked into her office as the numbers finally reached eight, and as the door opened, the soldier fired into it and watched as the bullets instantly ricocheted off the man's armor, it was Miyoti.

"Can I ask why you shot me?" as Miyoti began to exit the elevator the sniper interjected.

"He always greets us with a gun pointed to our head, though he normally doesn't shoot, consider yourself lucky kid," the soldier approached him.

"So that's our new uniform huh? Looks kind of ugly to me, but if it makes you immune to bullets I'll take it!" he said, pointing to blood-stained armor Miyoti donned "And kid, you should be able to wash that blood right off, but even if it doesn't makes it look a bit better…". Miyoti was still trying to get over the magnitude of what he had just done; Melody emerged from her office and went up to Miyoti.

"Alright, I think that's all the proof I need that they work, now don't worry about taking them off, since they're attached to you," Melody pointed to a vacant room, containing a small cot, drawer, and closet "This is where you'll be staying, go ahead and make whatever changes you want to it, as of now you work for me," She showed him into the room and closed the door, quickly reopening it "One more thing, your pay is going to be equal to the others on this floor, though you only get paid after you've finished an assignment, you know how that goes," she slammed the door and made her way back into her office. the demoman made his way down to the first floor, patiently waiting as the elevator stopped at the seventh floor, a man in a lab coat made

his way in as it resumed downwards.

"I presume you're done, doctor."

"I am, though my patient is still in the operating room, I put them to sleep for awhile, so I could run and find them some clothes, we have no spares In this building apparently," he spoke in a deep German accent.

"Why hasn't someone else done such a menial task?"

"Because they're all busy with the whole incident involving that boy you and the sniper brought in!" The door opened at the first floor, the two exited and made their way outside "So what brings you down to this floor, demoman?"

"I've got to blow up some stuff, that big pile o' bodies sitting on our property," the demoman said, pointing out to the decimated police force outside.

"I wish I could've seen it, the healing is not as rewarding as the hurting …" The German man laughed as he walked out the door and began his way down a nearby sidewalk, the demoman then facing the pile of corpses, laying down bombs by them.  
Melody turned to the numerous screens behind her, as they combined together to form one large screen, with the face of French Prime Minister Jacque Juppé.

"Ah, Mr. Juppé, I was hoping I'd hear from you," Melody greeted

"About that Takatzi kid, ma'am, we'll happily have that cleared up for the sake of your business, but we want results soon."

"Whatever do you mean Mr. Prime Minister?"

"I mean that your company has done nothing but capitalize on the threat of another attack by Zerstorung, the madman behind the invasion of Russia in 1947, It has been almost fifty years since that attack and thirty eight since we last saw him, so we've decided to give you ten more years before we pull the plug, so you'd better act quickly or we won't be here anymore to protect you from the prying eyes of the public," The screens flashed off, and the image of Jacque Juppé disappeared.  
the demoman returned to the eighth floor, with the sniper looking out the window.

"Nice job you did there, though some of those body parts might land in a couple streets…" the sniper said, making an observation of the demoman's deed.

"Yea, well let's see what those broadcasters have to say now!" the demoman grabbed the remote from the table and turned the channel to the local news.

"This just in, authorities have just recovered the body of 15-year old Miyoti Takatzi in a nearby apartment complex; police have yet to find the culprit, though his family has something to say," the television screen changed to that of a man being interviewed alongside his wife.

"I can only say that I hope whoever is responsible is charged to the fullest extent of the law, " The man paused and took a deep breath "and that we both miss our son very much and wish he was still at home with us," the soldier looked up at the demoman.

"Well I guess that's the end of that, now to just get them off your case," the sniper looked at his watch.

"It's getting late, bout ten minutes past nine," he said as he looked out at the sunset.

"Yea, we've had enough work for today, well you two have, and I didn't get to do a damn thing," The soldier made his way into a room across from the one in-which the furniture was stored "I'm going to bed, better be something for me to do tomorrow," the soldier muttered to himself as he shut the door. The sniper took the half of the francs on the table that the soldier had split, as the demoman took the opposite half.

"How much did he say it was?"

"37,500 Francs each," the sniper replied.

"Not nearly as much as our old pay, but it makes ends meet considering we got a place to live with the job," the demoman said as he hit the remote, and shut the television off. The two parted as they entered their respective rooms, scattered through the long hallway of the eighth floor.  
The German doctor made his way through the streets of Paris, with a small bag slung over his shoulder containing numerous articles of feminine clothing.

"I wish I was getting paid for this, but no, it has to be an act of charity for that damn spy or whatever he is now," he muttered to himself as he approached the WPA building, quietly hitting the up button beside the elevator door. The doctor arrived on the seventh floor, and placed the bag in the operating room, silently shutting the door on the way out. As he made his way back to the elevator, he was approached by a large Russian man.

"So, you are finished with job, yes?"

"I am, heavy, I was just about to retire for the night."

"I wanted to know, when shall we get job that will require us?"

"I'm not sure, the sniper and demoman have just finished an apparently important one."

"So that means now we have job?"

"I hope so, heavy, I really do," The doctor entered the elevator, alongside the Russian man, and headed to the eighth floor.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

* * *

Fall arrived in a small, dark suburb in Russia within the city of Kaspiysk, where a group of activists only known as the Black Hand gathered frequently. One member in particular was Boris; he was the son of a former RED mercenary who joined the Black Hand, though passed away due to mesothelioma. Boris took up their old profession, pyrotechnics, and was frequently simply referred to as "The Pyro" by fellow members after his deceased parent. The group was pro-communist, and has been plotting to overthrow the newly formed Russian Federation, they were a small group though, and rarely attempted anything drastic.

"Listen up, our next operation is going to simply involve us planting a bomb in a crowded area; see how the press reacts," one of the members spoke, pointing at a location within the city marked on a map.

"What would killing random people accomplish?" asked Boris, surrounded by a crowd of fellow members

"I'm glad you asked; we hope that if it's a success, we will gain a higher reputation and give us more power in the public eye."

"So basically we're tricking people into thinking that we mean business when we don't?"

"Essentially a publicity stunt but I think it will be worth it," The member presenting stepped down, and withdrew a small device from her backpack "This is what we'll use, we just hide it in something, and toss it into the area."

"Sounds pretty easy, but who's going to do it?" Boris asked as a member stood up.

"I'll do it, I'm sure it's not that hard."

"Good, here's the bomb, also take this," She handed the volunteer the bomb, along with it a briefcase "Just put the bomb in here when it's armed and leave it somewhere near the marked area," she said whilst pointing towards the map.

"Seems a bit late doesn't it?" asked Boris, pointing to his watch that said 1:20.

"We plan on setting it off around rush-hour today, now everyone get some sleep, this job shouldn't be a hard one," The members left the area and headed to their homes, Boris walking inside a small cottage. Within it he had a kitchen packed into a dining room, a bathroom directly to the left of the front door, and his bedroom not much farther away. He took a brief look in his closet, in it a gas-mask and a fire-proof suit, beside them a flamethrower crudely pieced together with a propane tank and several other house-hold accessories. He walked into his bedroom and lay upon the lone mattress, with a television sitting across from it, and fell asleep.

"Today is November 17th, the time is now 11:59; Breaking news from Kaspiysk- 32 people dead from a terrorist bomb placed in the center of town, it is unknown as to how it got there," The television blared as Boris awoke to see the sun shining through a nearby window, a nearby phone began to ring as he lifted himself up and reached for it.

"I assume you've seen the news, Boris," a female voice spoke through the phone.

"I have, and I guess the bomb they're talking about was-"

"Yes it was our friend, though amongst the dead he lays, caught by a piece of debris from the explosion."

"Oh, well that's too bad, now what are we going to do?"

"We plan to assassinate a popular actor, his name is Vladimir Gerdt, and though he is old his death will surely bring media attention."

"Who'd you have in mind?"

"You of course, I'm sure you could pull it off and not die…"

"I'll take care of it then," Boris hung up the phone and went to his closet, donning the gear within it and holstering the home-made flamethrower, though it looked ineffective it was truly deadly.

Boris approached a nearby train station, making sure his weapon was concealed, and got tickets for a train heading to Kiev, the assumed location of Gerdt. He waited on a bench, eyeing the numerous people who passed through, his only thought in his mind was how could he take away innocent people's lives, though he reminded himself that it was all for the greater good and that it is what his parent's would've wanted out of him.

"All aboard!" the conductor shouted as the train pulled in. Boris got an isle seat, though sat next to no one. He simply watched all the other passengers, some old, some young, all unaware how quickly their lives could be taken away.

"Daddy, look, that man is wearing a funny costume," a small child said, pointing at Boris.

"It's impolite to point, son," his father said, scolding the child. Boris shrugged the comment off, looking out the window as it passed numerous farms, once controlled by the government, now free to the proper owners. The train finally stopped, everyone began to leave along with Boris, and he looked up and noticed that it was in fact Kiev and made his way out of the station. After some searching he discovered where Gerdt lived, and headed towards the building. When he approached the door he began knocking, after a minute or so it opened.

"Yes?" a woman answered the door

"I'm looking for a mister Gerdt, by chance is he here?" Boris asked in a muffled voice.

"I'm afraid not, he went out tonight and won't be back until about eight, or so I've been told."

"And you are?"

"I'm simply a house maid, I work every Monday at this house; and I only know that from a neighbor."

"Well thanks for your time," Boris walked away from the house and waited in a nearby alleyway. Several hours passed before he saw an elderly man approach the house and enter, quickly closing the door behind him. Boris assumed it was his target, and followed. Boris knocked and the door, though no one answered after several minutes of knocking. He withdrew a fire axe from his suit and hacked at the door, tearing it to pieces in seconds. As Boris entered the house he looked into the kitchen and noticed the man on the phone.

"Yes, this crazy man in a suit just broke into my house with an axe, I think he sees me."

"Alright can you tell us where you are?"

"I think that's quite impossible, he has definitely seen me and is-"Gerdt was cut off as the only sound that was heard was of fire crackling, as the line quickly cut. Boris continued to shoot the stream of flames at Gerdt until he was completely indistinguishable, he made his way out the door and noticed several squad cars approaching, so he hid in the alleyway once more, watching their every move. Several officers ran into the house, guns drawn, only to discover the charred corpse of Vladimir Gerdt. Boris made his way out of the area through the alleyway, going undetected by the police forces occupied by the recent discovery.

While Boris eluded the law in Kiev, a new story began to unravel in the town of Boston, Massachusetts, where we meet the scout; a former BLU worker who possessed superb athletic abilities. To take advantage of this he delivered newspapers in the morning, and set his sights on the next Olympic Games, that would take place in Sydney, Australia.

Though he was able to afford an apartment of his own, it was unfortunately just across the street from his mother. He wasn't bothered by this, considering he hasn't heard of the RED spy, who used to date his mother, since 1968, when he disappeared after one of his fellow workers attacked him near a teleportation device.

"Hey ma, just thought I'd drop by real quick," the scout said as he entered the multiple-story building.

"Did you hear on the news about that man with the flamethrower?"

"Who?" the scout puzzling eyed his mother.

"Some man in Kiev, Russia, apparently incinerated some old actor's home; I think he sounds like one of your friends," his mother, inquiring about his past work.

"You mean Pyro? I highly doubt that sucker lived past forty."

"Who knows, it would be nice for you to know what the other members have gotten into."

"Twenty bucks says fatty's dead," he said, as he placed a twenty dollar bill on the counter nearby.

"And who would you be referring to?"

"He was some fat, bald, bastard who obsessed with the doc on our team, though more so his giant frickin gun; and so many of those sandwiches, it's like they materialized outta nowhere."

"They sound like somewhat interesting people."

"Oh believe me, they're in-frickin-sane, I can't name one of those bastards that was right in the head, all of em had something going on."

"When he was around, the spy would always talk about some guy called an engineer, he apparently was the one that he was best at killing out of the nine workers."

"Ya mean hard-hat? I don't know, he was pretty obsessed with those machines of his, I mean, I like dispensers, but whenever he puts one up he yells "_Erectin' a Dispenser!" _In that Texan voice o' his and it gets on your nerves even more so than I do, and that's saying something."

"Well, if you had to pick out of all of them, besides you, who would you say was the least crazy?"

"Aw jeez, that's a hard a one, well let's see, Pyro is a pyromaniac, soldier's simply nuts over that Sun Tzu guy, demo's always drunk, sniper throws piss at people, that doctor doesn't look right to me… specially when he's with fatty. I'd have to say hard-hat though, out of all of them he doesn't scare the crap out of me looking at em."

"I wonder where they all went; I mean did you ever even look back at them when you left your base in two-fort?"

"Not really, I just left, I took a good look or two back, but everyone just went their own way after we heard all about how our teams were simply controlled by the same person, pitting us against each other in a pointless war," he said, making his way towards the door.

"You should look into that at some point."

"Yea, I will, see ya," as he shut the door behind him and began to walk the long sidewalk across town.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

* * *

December 31st, 1996, at the WPA headquarters the mercenaries were celebrating the New Year, with numerous bottles of champagne set on the table in front of them. the demoman brandished his own bottle, marked "XXX".

"Always been bugging me, what was the point of that kid again?"

"Because the demoman, she just said so, and not to mention we got paid a decent amount for it," the sniper swiftly replied, turning his attention back to the bright television screen.

"Yea, well I ain't satisfied with that answer, I'm going to ask the boss one of these days," the demoman mumbled in a drunken slur "I think I might just lie down for a wee bit."

"I think he is good fighter, he made swift work of the tiny cowards that stood at our door not too long ago," the Russian man interjected.

"About that, I'm still wondering when we get our bullet-proof uniforms," the soldier muttered whilst holding a small wine glass and looking out at the Eifel Tower looming over the city.

"Say soldier, isn't your name Jane Doe?" The doctor queried

"Technically, but that was before I started looking up what that jargon meant."

"I'm surprised you went that far, Doe," the sniper chuckled as he spoke.

"I was pretty damn crazy back then…"

"You still are, every time we try to come up here you point a gun at us as a greeting!"

"Don't blame me for trying to defend our fair business!" The soldier and sniper bickered whilst Miyoti sat in his room, holding onto a photo of him and his family gathered near a glistening tree decorated for the holidays.

"Why me…" Miyoti quietly spoke to himself as he placed a photo back inside its frame, which sat upon a low desk. The door to his room slowly opened to reveal the face of Melody.

"Hey, why don't you come out? This is the one time of year we don't have to keep a watch on the whole world!" Melody glanced at Miyoti, and received no reply "Well I'll be out here with the others, you're free to join us," she gently closed the door and walked towards the others.

Outside of the building, a girl of about sixteen awaited at the bottom floor, wearing formal attire. A raspy voice could be heard from an ear-piece she wore.

"Have you found the building? I do not believe it is too far from where I have directed you…"

"This is the one, I can tell by the description you gave me earlier," she replied back through the device.

"Good, Good, now you must carry out the master's orders, you know what they are and if you expect to be rewarded you must finish the task at hand," the man on the other line disconnected as the girl began to scale the building, counting the floors as she ascended. When she counted off the last number, eight, she scoured the windows, the first one she noticed several men around a square table, two of them were arguing as a man in a white lab coat gleefully watched the nearby television screen. She heard a loud noise through the window as she moved across the floor's windows

"…Five!" she continued scaling the wall, maintain a grip on the sill's of the windows.

"…Four!" at the fourth window, she noticed a boy, alone, in the room staring at a frame.

"…Three!" While maintain a grip she reached into her pocket and noticed the picture she was given of her target matched, and prepared to move in.

"…Two!" She held on tightly to the edge of the window, and prepared a leap.

"…One," The television in the other room blared as the assassin broke through the window, and into Miyoti's room. She lunged at him instantly wielding a balisong, Miyoti parried with his own blade, and the two began to battle, matching each other's attacks with their own.

"…Happy New Year!" everyone in the room shouted, with the Russian man popping open a fresh bottle of champagne.

"Hey guys, I thought I heard something coming from the other room…" The soldier listened intently while the others partied, after several seconds; he heard the sound of swords scraping against one another, almost like a battle. "You guys wait right here…"

"Oh we'll be here…" the demoman slurred whilst still lying on the floor. The soldier went up to Miyoti's door, and realized the sounds were coming from within it, and kicked the door down and pumped his shotgun simultaneously, aiming it forwards.

"Okay this time I mean it, hands up or you'll get a face full of buckshot!" he aimed his gun towards Miyoti, and noticed a several broken shards of glass "Jesus, what happened here?" he said as he lowered the gun, realizing no one else was there.

"Some girl, tried to kill me I think, but I slashed her and I guess she ran" he said, pointing to the apparent gap in the window nearby.

"Damn it all, the one time there is an intruder I miss em; by god the next time they rear their ugly head in this place I'll make sure they get their daily dose of death!"

"What happened? What are you rambling about now, soldier?" the sniper walked over to the room, eyeing the numerous shards of glass on the floor.

"We had an intruder for once, but I missed them…but the kid got em though."

"Well, I didn't kill them, just injured them I guess."

"Whatever gets them off your back, no need to clean up a body on New Years," The sniper invited the soldier and Miyoti out the room, and the two happily accepted.

The next morning came quickly, with a new year on the horizon; the workers on the eighth floor fast asleep. In her office Melody, recently awoken, picked up the nearby phone lying on her desk and dialed.

"Hello, what is it that you need, I though we've already worked out our plan," the other line answered.

"I know Mr. Juppé but I wanted to get something straightened out; the space station Zerstorung sent up; has anyone ever attempted to get in contact with it?"

"Not to my knowledge, it simply lies dormant outside of our reach; we think it's orbiting Mars at the moment; why do you ask?"

"Well if those ten years go by without any sort of attempt against it I'll do it myself, just wanted to make that clear."

"Well fine, I'll propose that alternative to your termination when the day comes." Juppé hung up his cell phone and returned to running through numerous papers scattered on his desk.

The Russian man slowly turned out of his small cot, walking outside of his room and down the hallway, noticing no one. He made his way through the long hallway, finding small refrigerator lying on the table where the champagne once rested. He reached into it and withdrew half a sandwich and began eating it, though no matter how much he ate the piece of sandwich only appeared to have one bite mark in it.

"Heavy, you're up I see; I always thought I got up the earliest around here," the sniper said as he left his room, and peered outside one of the numerous windows. He armed his rifle and looked from it, eyeing the sky. "I always get up this early, take a couple practice shots to make sure I ain't getting rusty…" he muttered as he quickly disposed of a passing pigeon; in one fluid motion ejecting the previous shell and loading a fresh one into the rifle.

"Now if only there was place for me to shoot Sasha, but she makes too much noise for tiny French people," the heavy eyeing the large gun he carried on his back, now holding it in his arms in lieu of his sandwich.

"Yea, I invested some of that money on a silencer for mine, works like a charm," the sniper said as he removed another pigeon from the airspace.

"Business has been slow since you took little man in, sniper."

"Well that kid seems to be everyone's target, last night someone broke in; tried to kill the boy."

"I see, maybe little man is more valuable than I thought, but still it puts us in tight spot, our pay is not as high without work to accomplish," the two causally spoke, while the sniper continued killing birds near the WPA building, as the door to Miyoti's room slowly opened.

"Hey…" Miyoti walked out from the door, and shut it behind him.

"Everyone's getting up early today, jeez; so what made you decide to come out today?" the sniper interrogated Miyoti.

"I just haven't had much time to adjust to your sort of life, making a living out of killing innocent people, that and abandoning your family…"

"I'll give ya that much, kid, we got the benefit of joining up on our own accord, all of us were born to kill; you on the other hand were plucked right out and given a gun, being told to go shoot up the other guy before he got you," the sniper spoke quietly.

"I would side with sniper, he makes good point, give it time, and you will be killing machine…" added the heavy, as Miyoti walked towards the table.

"But I don't want to kill people, yet for some reason whenever I'm told to I just do it without thought…"

"Kid, isn't it obvious by now? Melody got some hold on you like that witch had on us back in the day," the sniper snappily replied.

"Who are you referring to?"

"The person who used to run the old RED and BLU companies, some old hag named Helen, she tricked us into killing each other over fruitless objectives that the other side already finished; only good thing I got to say about her is that she paid well, that's it."

"Though it was fun time, for we killed tiny cowards for much reward!" The heavy entered the conversation, holding his gun close.

"Yea, well kid; I've got a bad feeling you ain't got no choice over what you want to do in this place, I had to kidnap you; I'm sure she'll happily put you up to the task of killing people."

"Why is that a big deal to you? You kill people for a living, why would stealing children be such a step up?" Miyoti inquired.

"Cause mate, just ain't what I'm trained for, I'd much rather of shot several hundred people than steal a little boy away from his loving family; I had some parents back when I worked for RED, dad never approved of my killing, but I still had some part of me that cared. Profession always got in the way; never until they both died did I even consider them a major part of my life." The sniper mumbled, still looking out the window for his next shot.

"Never thought you could have "Feelings" sniper!" the soldier said mockingly, exiting his room and into the snipers view.

"Piss off, wanker," the sniper scoffed and returned to the window.

"I only hope that we get job soon, time spent not killing is time wasted for me and Sasha…" the heavy muttered while polishing his gun.

In his room, the German doctor was writing several papers, documenting his last patient that he had discharged from the building only so many weeks ago.

"I wonder why he kept telling me his name was Dawn, most likely some sort of amnesia or dementia… perhaps he was simply a transvestite who looked like someone I knew" The doctor sifted through his files and continued writing.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

* * *

"Name soldier?"

"Douglas Fawkes, sir."

"You're being shipped to a military base located in Versailles, security's been pretty shaky in France ever since that private company started running the show there." The lieutenant showed Fawkes out and returned to the others.

Douglas had recently finished boot-camp after arriving in America around August of the earlier year. He lived alone in a small apartment in Boston, Massachusetts; he almost never exited it unless it was military business. Whenever he did go out he wore a gas-mask that went along with the uniform given to him. For reasons unbeknownst to him, he was technically female. He once had a girlfriend in the city, but now that he looked the way he did he could never find the courage to approach her. Douglas was around sixty years old, though looked around thirteen. His hair was blue, and despite attempts at re-coloring their color would not change, nor could he have it cut. In the end he simply tied it in a small pony-tail; tucked into the back of his shirt. Even he did not know the reason for any of these aliments, but learned to deal with them by hiding under a uniform constantly, never making connections to anyone outside the military. His only memory was a photo of him and his girlfriend, hand in hand walking down a small sidewalk in Paris.

"Ma petite chou fleur…" he placed the photo back into his pocket as he scrounged the daily paper. He sifted though it quickly, not finding anything of interest. A nearby phone began to ring; he reached for it.

"Hello? Who is this?" Douglas spoke into the phone in a deep French accent

"Just a reminder that you ship out at five-hundred tomorrow morning, be ready," the line disconnected.

Time flew by, Douglas only waiting for his departure as he locked his apartment door, and headed to the harbor. He boarded a ship bound for France in the early hours of the day, it was a cool January morning; things settled down after the first week of the New Year.

"So what's up with the one that always wears his gas-mask? Is he trying to hide something or what?" a soldier aboard the ship casually asked another in an Irish accent.

"Your guess is as good as mine, I went to the same boot-camp as he did; he didn't even sleep in the same bunk as the others!" said the other soldier, who wore an eye-patch over one of his eyes-obtained in fighting an earlier conflict.

"Well to pass the time on this snail-ship we should try to solve that mystery."

"Beats sitting around here doing nothing, just watching the sea move ever so slowly…damn fish."

Douglas had made sure he was far from the others at most times, sitting in the center of the ship away from the soldiers gazing across the ocean.

"I wish we could've taken a damn plane…" a soldier muttered while traversing the ship, rifle in hand.

"Maybe if we take the mask off that'd be the easier way"

"I don't know- the quiet ones are always the ones that kick your ass the hardest."

"Then we wait for him to fall asleep"

"What if he doesn't?"

"It's nearly a day's trip, why would he stay up the entire time?"

"Paranoia probably, wouldn't be surprised if he was a tad paranoid of everyone here."

"Then you come up with an idea, smartass."

"Okay fine, we can probably cut the hold of the mask if we're careful, though we have to make sure no one sees us doing it."

"Hah! That guy makes it his duty to stay away from everyone else!"

The two made their move while Douglas paced back and forth, occasionally pulling out the photo of himself and his former lover. The Irish soldier withdrew his knife, and approached Douglas from behind, only for him to swiftly turn around, wielding a revolver with the image of a woman engraved on the side of it, directly at him.

"What were you trying to do, exactly?" Douglas spoke softly in his deep French accent.

"Look, I was just curious as to why you wore that mask all the time, but I was too afraid to ask!" the Irish soldier quickly responded.

"If you must know, perhaps you will stop bothering me about it," he removed his mask to reveal the face of a teenage-girl, though it was unlike any that the Irishman had seen.

"Jesus! Now I know why you keep that damn thing on, for the love of Christ put it back on; reminds me of the garbage that them japs started churning out not too long ago," Douglas put his mask back on.

"Now that you know what lies beneath this mask, please stop bothering me…" He walked away slowly, and passed the soldier with the eye-patch.

"Now if that isn't the scariest thing I've ever seen, glad no one else ever saw it."

"Let's just forget that happened and pray we do in fact forget it; maybe a little of this will help," the Irish soldier withdrew a canteen and took a long drink, the other soldier following.

The ship stopped at a port in Normandy, and let all the soldiers off there, as they got off hummers awaited outside to deliver them to the base in Versailles. Douglas chose to ride the metro to the city, not wanting to be with the others longer than he had to be. He used his own money to pay for a ticket, and rode it all the way to Versailles; on it he drew attention due to his uniform, but shrugged it off. Though one stop in particular happened when the metro stopped in Paris, a man in a brown hat wearing sunglasses entered the car, and took a seat near Douglas.

"Not a bad day, mate, not too hot and not too cold," the man spoke to Douglas

"I suppose…" Douglas spoke in a young girl's voice, after recognizing the man as the sniper, not wanting him to discover what he had become.

"What gives with the uniform, you with the army?"

"Yes, I'm a private in the united states army"

"Well that's great, nice to know they're letting girls in now; least more so than they did," the train came to a stop at the station in Versailles, the sniper getting up along with Douglas. "Well good luck with whatever they have planned for you, little girl," the sniper said as he walked out of the station ahead of Douglas.

As he walked out of the station, Douglas made his way to the base that he was to be assigned to. He walked through the wonderful streets, only the occasional car blasting through, a majority of the travelers were on foot. He took time to admire the design of the apartment buildings that hung above the numerous shops. Despite being raised in France, he hardly remembered it due to the long hours he had to work at his previous occupation with RED. As he wandered through the streets to the base, he thought about his name; he had decided that in order to conceal his identity, to take a new name upon arriving in America. After a walk through the small corner, he arrived at the base he was to take residence in, upon entering he was greeted by one of the guards.

"I assume you're with the group we've been expecting, you're the first one here; Generals been waiting on you people…"

"Why, is it important?" Douglas asked in his French accent

"He'll brief you once the rest have arrived, I think they're estimated time of arrival is about...now" the guard said, staring at the watch on his wrist. Numerous hummers drove up to the base's door, letting soldiers out one-by-one. When they all had stepped inside, a man stood before them all, donning several medals on his chest.

"I've sent for you soldiers because we have a problem here in fair old France," he pointed to a large map of France behind him "We have reason to believe someone's been pulling the strings. Allowing them to operate in total secret; normally this wouldn't be a problem," he paused momentarily "But numerous reports have come in about the happenings in that place, and most disturbingly was the complete cover up of a massacre of over 20 French officers outside their doors; roll the clip."

"Give me a second here…" the operator of the computer that controlled the slide behind the general fiddled with it, and soon a video began to play.

"Merely two hours ago Miyoti Takatzi, age fifteen, was abducted from his home by two men, one Tavish Degroot, and the other unidentified," the video paused.

"Now those men were working for the WPA, the business in question, we have reasons to believe they are creating some sort of super weapon; show them the clip for the next day," the video turned black, and cut to a different section.

"Authorities have recovered the body of fifteen year old Miyoti Takatzi, found dead only hours of his reported abduction," the video paused again.

"Now here, here is where they began playing their game; we have several photos from December 31st, 1996, where a photographer managed to catch a photo of the kid in that building; put it up," he told to the operator, who sifted through the power-point presentation, soon revealing a clear photograph, apparently taken at a distance, of a window in the eighth floor of the WPA building; seemingly inside of the window was Miyoti. "Some of you may still be wondering about the multiple police deaths I mention earlier, well the only proof we needed was a bloody mess that was reported by numerous men we had stationed in France, though was never allowed to be broadcast or spoke of by the French people due to their cover-ups!"

Outside of the base, the sniper peered inside through a small crack in the wall he had carved out carefully from a weak piece of dry wall using his kukri "Lets see, nope, nope, nope again, ah there's the right one…" he scanned the crowd of soldiers intently listening to the general as he aimed his rifle carefully through the wall and prepared his shot "Wave goodbye to your, wanker," he took the shot, instantly killing the general and stirring panic within the audience.

"We've got a sniper, quick, find the bastard before he takes another shot!" one the guards yelled as they scrounged the building for signs of him

"Piece of piss!" the sniper cheerfully walked away, easily going undetected by the panicked guards.

"So, sniper, I see you haven't changed a bit…" Douglas appeared behind him in his French accent.

"Oh, you; hey wait, weren't you the little girl on the train?"

"Yes, I was, though I simply changed my voice to fool you."

"Well that explains a lot, but why the voice of a girl?"

"It's the only other one I can do without my disguise kit; I lost it awhile back…"

"Well I hope you're faring well, I'm going to get a nice sum for that wanker…"

"Until we meet again, sniper," Douglas walked back to the base, quietly reentering to avoid suspicion. Later the sniper made his way back to the WPA building.

"So I see you've made the kill," Melody turned her chair to the sniper as he entered her office.

"I did, now what's my reward this time?"

"Ah yes, take this," she passed a check to the sniper, written for two-hundred fifty thousand Francs "And be on your way, I have things to attend to."

"Damn straight," the sniper took hold of the check and pocketed it, heading out of the office and back into the lounge area.

Several hundred miles away from Earth, lay an enormous structure that orbited its neighbor, Mars. It was Zerstorung's space station, which he used to monitor Earth while remaining hidden. Within it he kept his army on standby, along with himself and his advisor, Esool. He simply wore a monk's robe; his face shrouded by a hood, though when lifted revealed a completely blank space.

"The assassin failed, my liege," Esool approached Zerstorung with the news, speaking with a raspy voice.

"Of course, she isn't dead now is she?" Zerstorung spoke in a deep, thundering voice.

"She is not; I've made sure she will make every attempt at the boy's life."

"Good, I will make plans for our attack, whether she succeeds or not."

"I'll communicate with her right now; excuse me for a second my liege," Esool stepped out of the room and drew a phone from his robe and hit a single number.

"Hello? This is Esool; I've called about the boy,"

"Oh, you, I tried but I suppose he's tougher than you made him out to be"

"Well I want you to devote all of your time to that boy; you will not go un-rewarded for your efforts."

"If I can't kill him I won't be rewarded now will I?"

"Choosing to disobey will result in grave consequences; I advise you listen or face death."

"Whatever, no one else seems to be hiring around here so I'll get right on that," she hung up the phone and returned it to her pocket.

"Alright your majesty, I have straightened her out and hopefully she shall succeed," Esool said as he reentered the room.

"Excellent, now return to your duties of monitoring their puny planet, I have business to attend to."

"Of course," Esool exited the room, passing several guards on his way out.

Zerstorung disappeared from the room in a flash of light, teleporting to an unknown location. All that was there was an abyss of fire and smoke, the only living thing there was a tremendous beast. It towered over Zerstorung, staring at him with eight beady eyes. Its face mildly resembled that of a triceratops; as it glared down at Zerstorung.

"What brings you here?" The beast's voice echoed throughout the abyss infinitely.

"I come bearing a proposal; I can free you from this place if you simply agree to my terms."

"I would gladly accept this freedom; my earlier attempts of escape were thwarted quite some time ago…"

"I would free you from this place, but with it I only ask that you aid my army with yours."

"It is far from an army, I would consider them my children; it is my only wish that they are returned their dominance that was taken from them by man."

"So we have a deal?" Zerstorung quickly replied.

"Once you free me I shall comply with our agreement, I already know the looks of your men; I will be waiting."

"You will be freed soon enough, soon enough…" Zerstorung vanished and returned to his room upon the station.

"My liege, you're back I see, I have news for you," Esool spoke to Zerstorung as soon as he arrived.

"And that is?"

"The deadline for our attack is sometime in 2006, Melody has been given until then before she takes the fight to us"

"Then we shall strike in say, 2003, I'm sure we shall be ready by then."

"As you wish my liege, I shall make preparations," Esool left the room once more and spoke to the guards outside as he left Zerstorung's view.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

2003, Six years later, Zerstorung did in fact begin his second assault on earth. His force began the invasion in Europe, some splitting off into Russia. Zerstorung didn't come alone though, with him he brought a terrible beast only known as "The Supreme Evil"; it brought an army of prehistoric creatures that fought alongside Zerstorung's troops. Word first reached the WPA only minutes after he arrived.

"Looks like he finally decided to show up…" Melody commented on the sighting of one of Zerstorung's troops highlighted on the news.

"Many people now believe this to be World War Three, seeing as these troops are of no alignment known to Earth's governments." The reporter on the screen spoke, as the sniper looked over Melody's shoulder.

"About time we have something to do; I'll go tell the others about this mess"

"Good, because I'm shipping you six out there to fight," Melody responded as the sniper left her presence.

"Well, looks like we have a problem that needs us finally," The soldier remarked as the sniper told the group about the situation.

"I was getting used to doing nothing all day, let's hope that I haven't lost my touch since my fighting days…" the demoman muttered as the group conversed.

"It will be good time shooting little cowards for reward once again; with doctor by my side, I am unstoppable!" the Russian man ejaculated, holding the doctor close to him.

"In most cases, heavy, but I'm sure it will not be as easy as you're making it sound," the doctor cut in.

"Also boss said for us to get there right about now, so we should probably go board a plane or something."

"Times like this make me wish we still had engineer with us," the soldier replied.

"No one knows what happened to him, but I'm sure he found something to do with that head of his; let's get moving before things escalate any further…"

The group boarded the sniper's van, the demoman sitting in the front with the others crowded into the back. The van pulled out of the lot and began its way on the roads of Paris.

"Awful quiet around here, one of you are going to want to keep an eye out; bastards could be anywhere…" the sniper spoke to the group, quickly returning to the road.

"I'll stand look out!" the soldier peered through the window in the back of the van, eyeing the road they left behind.

"Maybe this will be the last fight we ever have, who knows," the demoman mumbled in the passenger seat.

"I hope you mean that in the way that we live," the sniper muttered to him.

"Where are we going anyways?" Miyoti inquired the sniper.

"Our goal is Berlin, that's apparently that guy's big target, so we have to stop him from getting it."

"We're driving to Berlin?"

"If we can, sure, but I highly doubt we'll get a clear cut to Berlin with his cronies in our way."

"Why didn't we just take a plane then?"

"I'm pretty sure commercial air traffic is going to be coming to a halt once they catch wind of the attacks."

"Fair enough…" Miyoti sank back into the wall of the van, staring out the front window.

"Hold on, I'm going to pass by some base in Versailles real quick, may seem out of the way but it'd be a good place to hold…" the sniper turned the van and headed left of his previous route.

"Why? To give them more time to blockade all of Germany?" The doctor snapped at the sniper.

"I'd rather we establish what we're up against first, before jumping straight into the heart of the fight," the sniper quickly replied.

"Did the boss even tell us?" the soldier asked, whilst intently staring out the back of the van.

"To be honest she just said it was Zerstorung's men, and I've never even seen any of his men."

"I am sure they are no match for Sasha and me," the heavy declared, whilst holding his gun up to his chest.

"Let's hope," the sniper added, continuing to drive until something caught his attention. "What is that? I need to pull over real fast…" the sniper stopped the van and looked over into a small alleyway.

"Whatever happened to that base? I thought we were heading there!" The soldier barked at the sniper as he exited the van.

"We are, just let me get a look at this," he withdrew his rifle and aimed the scope down the alleyway, in it he saw a beast with sharp teeth and beady eyes bending over to feed on it's recent kill; it stood on two legs, as it rose to stare down the alley back at the sniper, it began to run towards him letting out a loud yell. He quickly dispatched it with a single shot, removing its top jaw and causing it's corpse to jump and fall backwards due to the force.

"What the hell was that?" The soldier asked, exiting the van

"Raptor, I could tell after I shot it, not sure what it's doing around here."

"You mean a dinosaur? That's preposterous!"

"Look for yourself," the sniper walked to the body, the soldier not straying far.

"Oh Christ, it really is; wait, who's that it killed?" the soldier stared at the dead man; he noticed a military uniform and an eye-patch as he examined the body. As the soldier looked at it, a man came running into the alley.

"Shit, I'm too late, poor bastard, damn thing caught us by surprise; no time to get our guns out, just picked him and took off" The man spoke with an Irish accent, looking down at the corpse.

"Who're you?" the sniper looked over at the man

"I work at the base here in Versailles; this man over here was one of my closet friends there, shame to see him like this."

"Versailles? But we can't already be in Versailles…"

"You're not, but you're pretty damn close, 1 more mile or so," The Irish man withdrew his gun and scanned the area.

"Well I can only assume there are more of these little bastards jumping around the place; you might want to stick with us, pal." The soldier turned to the Irish man, who looked over at him.

"I suppose, our base got overrun pretty quick; I got no other place to go…"

"You can tell us all about it on the way to Berlin!" The soldier exclaimed, whilst heading back to the van. "Just jump in, we're all on the same page here."

"Better than waiting for more of those scaly bastards to come," the man jumped into the back, as the soldier motioned the sniper in.

"Alright, let's get back on the road!" The sniper shut the door, and started the van once more.

"So, what was it sniper?" The doctor queried from the back of the van.

"Velociraptor; my guess is as good as yours as to why the little bugger is even here."

"I can only assume it's the guy we're after whose responsible." the demoman replied, staring out the window of the van.

The group made their way across the roads of France, soon reaching an encampment near the lines of Berlin. They approached it to notice numerous soldiers were placed on turrets, multiple trenches dug near the line in an attempt to seal it off. A man in a decorated uniform approached them as they neared the line.

"State your business here, this is a highly restricted area!" the man barked at them.

"I came from the base in Versailles, it was overrun and abandoned, these men, I'm not sure about," the Irish man interjected.

"We are from the WPA, and we were sent to save your sorry hides from the oncoming threat!" The soldier replied

"Right, go on through if you'd like; got to warn you though, it ain't pretty out there."

"There isn't a being alive that I cannot best in combat, and by god I will beat them all into submission!"

"Your funeral," the man stood aside as to let the group through, directing the Irish man to a nearby mounted machine gun.

"Man this place already looks messed up," the sniper making an observation of a nearby collapsed building, with several bodies lying under it.

"It's just so many more miles until we're in the fray…"

"Better hope you can take the critters round here, soldier," the sniper smugly remarked.

"Hah, they stand no chance against me!" The soldier proclaimed as the group came to a halt. A loud thundering noise could be heard closing in on them. The source of the noise was made apparent, as a tyrannosaur was seen in the distance, running at them with its jaws wide open.

"Now it is coward killing time!" The heavy spun his machine gun and opened fire on the tyrannosaurs, tearing it apart as it lunged forward. The tyrannosaur showed no sign of stopping, as the demoman laid several bombs in its path, motioning the group to move back.

"KA-BOOM," the demoman cheered as he set off the bombs, obliterating the beast in shower of blood and gore.

"And that's only the beginning of this nightmare…" the sniper walked forward, the rest of the group following.

"Let's hope the rest of them are as easy to kill as he was!" the demoman proclaimed, reloading his weapon. The doctor looked out into the distance, eyeing a large building.

"That is the capital building! If we can hold there we can surely save the city!" he said, motioning forward.

"Alright, let's get a move on before more nasty critters decide on us for their meal…" the sniper responded, peering through his scope periodically to scan the area.

After many hours of walking through the war ridden city, the six came upon the Reichstag, noticing an intense battle occurring nearby. U.S. troops were battling a wave of Zerstorung's men; shots were flying everywhere as the group headed for cover.

"Alright here's the plan, I'll stay here and nail as many buggers as I can; heavy, medic, you two just stick together and do what you do best; soldier and the demoman, you two try and flank; and Miyoti, simply jump in and do your job," the sniper motioned them off and he peered out from cover, training his sight on a raptor racing towards an American soldier.

"Come now, doctor!" The heavy ran into the fray, the medic trailing behind.

"Alright the demoman, you toss your bombs everywhere while I use hop up there and deliver death from above!"

"I don't need to be told how to do my job, but I'll do it anyways!"

Miyoti leapt into the chaos of battle, taking out numerous soldiers with ease using his blades. A raptor leapt at him, only to be caught on his blade in mid-air, swiftly torn apart with the second. He finished off another one of Zerstorung's men in an alley, looking up he saw a familiar face.

"So, did you come to try and kill me again?" Miyoti spoke, identifying them as Pandora, the assassin hired years ago who had never once stopped her attempts at his life. As he was about to raise his blades in defense, without words she approached him and kissed him. Miyoti was awe-struck as she looked him in the eye, the two embraced without thought as the battle drove on in the background.

"Alright, we have an enemy sniper, third floor of the apartment to your right, sniper!" The soldier barked into his earpiece atop the roof of a department store. "Oh hey, it's the kid," The soldier looked down from the building at Miyoti and Pandora. "Must be one hell of a fight, I'll leave it to them…" the soldier blissfully unaware walked back into the fight, firing several rockets towards one of Zerstorung's soldiers who returned fire.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

* * *

A year later, the WPA forces had been forced to retreat; Zerstorung's army was too much for them alone after the defeat of the American troops stationed there. Berlin had been taken by Zerstorung, and used as his new base of operations, him residing within the Reichstag. Melody saw an opportunity in this.

"I have called you all in here regarding Zerstorung's new base in Berlin," Melody spoke from behind her desk, to the group of six.

"You mean the one we fucked up at?" The soldier cut in.

"Yes, it seems he has taken residence there, and with the planned invasion by U.N. forces we should be able to slip in and win the war once and for all."

"Do you mean killing your brother," the sniper asked.

"It has come down to it; Miyoti, you are the only one who can kill him."

"Why? Can't someone else do it?" Miyoti inquired.

"No, only a descendant of your line can kill my brother."

"And why is that?"

"It's just the one weakness me and my brother have, for me it's some people called the Johnsons, but their line was extinguished years ago."

"Weird…"

"Back to business; I want you six to head to Berlin alongside the invading forces, Miyoti; you are to go in alone and kill my brother, it is a hard task but I'm sure you are prepared."

"I'm not going to lie to ya lad, that's a pretty big burden she's putting on ya" the demoman responded, speaking to Miyoti.

"I suppose if I have to, I have no other purpose in life anymore apparently…"

"If you don't, god knows what sick vision he has for earth's future."

"Enough talk, when do we get to start mowing down tiny babies once more?" the heavy exclaimed.

"You will be shipping out tomorrow, make preparations; you may leave my office…"

In Moscow, Russia, the Black Hand had made preparations to activate the nuclear arsenal stored there, in hopes of defeating Zerstorung once and for all. Boris alongside numerous other members waited nearby the government building, heavily guarded by Zerstorung's men.

"We have the codes, we just need to get in-"

"And kill them all…" Boris interrupted the member.

"It's our only option, millions of innocent Russian people have died for no just cause, and we could spend all day listing the people we have to blame, but this menace tops our list." The member spoke to the others, gun in hand. The members rose and marched outside, preparing for the assault, as Boris confronted the member.

"I only hope you live through this," He spoke to the member.

"Even if I don't, as long as our objective as been finished our deaths will not be in vain," she spoke back to him.

"But Rose, you and the others are the closet thing I've had to a family since my parent's deaths."

"We must all make sacrifices; this is truly for the better of all the people who lost their lives to that madman."

"I suppose you're right, give me a moment," Boris donned his fireproof suit and flamethrower, and walked outside to the awaiting group of members. They quickly charged the building, shots rang out as numerous members were dropped instantly, Boris in the middle of the group.

"Just keep going, as long as we make it inside we can still succeed!" Rose shouted to the others, while occasionally returning fire at the nearby guards. The group fought its way through and reached the door, the lack of guards on the outside of the building allowed few casualties on their part.

"Give me a second," Boris rose his axe and began breaking the door apart, after several hits, a large enough hole was created for him to unlock it manually.

"Quickly, go!" one of the members shouted as they rushed the building, chaos ensuing. They passed numerous rooms and guards, slowly dropping in number as they approached the control room hidden deep within. The only two survivors at that point were Rose and Boris.

"According to the blueprints up here should be the control room; this is it, Boris," Rose turned to him, after examining the door.

"I only hope we both make it back out this door," the two used grenades from the fallen bodies of the guards slain earlier by their forces to destroy the door, they fought valiantly against them; soon a shot hit Rose in the chest, dropping her to the ground. Boris quickly came to her side, taking cover from the battle behind a terminal.

"You're going to be alright, just please don't leave me!" Boris cried through his mask whilst holding her.

"Do not worry about me, you must complete the job, and save the world from the menace that has already claimed our fair mother Russia," Rose spoke, gasping for breath. "Go now, we will be reunited in due time," as she spoke, her eyes gently closed as Boris put her down. He rose from behind the terminal and sprayed the room with fire, dodging bullets left and right, incinerating everyone in a matter of seconds. He showed no remorse as he approached a nearby terminal and entered in the code, preparing a launch against Berlin, Germany.

Hundreds of miles away, the battle for the Reichstag began, the group of WPA mercenaries alongside the United Nation's forces. Within the Reichstag, Esool confronted Zerstorung.

"My liege, enemy forces have appeared in bulk, and have taken the confrontation to our doorstep."

"Perfect, I shall remain here; Esool I want you to head back to the station for now."

"As you wish," Esool disappeared from the room in a puff of smoke, as one of Zerstorung's soldiers approached him.

"The line is holding, though the WPA men have arrived."

"Even better, now, return to your duty," Zerstorung barked at the soldier

"Of course," the soldier left Zerstorung's presence. Outside the battle waged on as the sniper took several shots alongside the demoman, who fired grenades into the air, striking down several enemy soldiers on impact.

"Get behind me doctor!" The heavy yelled as he advanced through the lines, easily mowing down the opposition.

In a wrecked building not too far from the fight, the sniper took aim from the second story. He began taking out targets left and right, though he heard footsteps behind him, and swiftly withdrew his kukri; keeping a hold of his rifle in his free hand.

"Spy if it's you," the sniper was stopped his sentence when he saw the figure, it appeared to be Miyoti. "Kid, what are you doing here? Thought you were supposed be over there wrestling with the big guy."

"Oh I'm not Miyoti, son, I'm his grandfather," the sniper gave him a confused look, as he sheathed his kukri.

"What proof you got of that?"

"Look," he pulled back his sleeve, to reveal nothing but skin.

"Oh, no fancy blades, alright then; what're you doing here, now of all times?"

"I was hoping I wouldn't be too late to stop that conniving bitch from killing my grandson!" He spoke in an Irish accent, though only straying so much from Miyoti's voice.

"My bet is that he's already in there mano a mano with the one behind all this mess."

"Well I'll help you boys out if it'll get me in that building faster," He withdrew a magnum from his pocket and approached the opening through which the sniper had been shooting.

"Now wait, why do you look like him?" The sniper queried as he returned the rifle to his shoulder and prepared to fire once more.

"Shoot now, ask questions later; and for the record my names Logia," He shot several times into the warzone, ducking back occasionally when bullets hailed the tattered wall.

"You'd better hope there's hackie sack in hell, hippie!" The soldier fired several rockets as he passed by the defending forces, quickly moving towards the towering buildings that housed Zerstorung. the demoman wasn't too far behind, casually moving through as if there wasn't even a battle.

"You'd think this would be harder, eh?" the demoman remarked as he approached the soldier.

"That is because they are not shooting at you, they are shooting at me!" He ducked whilst returning fire with his freshly drawn shotgun, dropping his rocket launcher in the process. As he began to load several slugs into his gun, he turned his attention to the heavy; he and the medic quickly paved a way to the building with little effort. "Now if only he could've gotten here faster…" He retrieved his rocket launcher and holstered his shotgun and followed the pair, the demoman following close behind.

"Huh, looks like we got ourselves a way in; let's go before those bastards make another move," the sniper turned to Logia.

"Alright; this wall seems a bit weak, perhaps we could just-"

"We're going to walk down, not jump," the sniper interrupted as he motioned for him to follow. The two began to traverse the barren land, taking time to view the U.N. troops holding the line against the forces of Zerstorung.

"Can't believe they're taking those dinosaurs with such stride," Logia remarked, watching as the forces quickly shot down several large carnivores.

"Well let's hope they can keep doing that until we make it to the others," As the two walked they began to notice numerous corpses strewn upon their path.

"Looks like they've cleaned up this place fairly easily," Logia looked down at the countless bodies riddled with bullet wounds.

"By the looks of it I'd say the heavy did most of the work…"

"Is he the one that carries that machine gun and calls it Sasha?"

"That's the one."

Within the Reichstag, Miyoti had fought through numerous guards to reach Zerstorung's throne room. When he opened the door he was surprised to only see Zerstorung, staring him down as he walked through.

"I can only presume you are Miyoti, the boy sent here by my sister, no?" Zerstorung's dark voice echoed through the room as he awaited a reply.

"Well that depends, are you Zerstorung?"

"If I wasn't then who would be? Of course I am," he cackled before returning his gaze to Miyoti. "So what has she offered you in return for my demise?"

"Well now that you mention it, nothing but the satisfaction that you won't be around to torment innocent people…"

"Fair enough, but I'm afraid I have to punish you for your recklessness; your chore ends here," Zerstorung extended one of his arms as a scythe materialized in his grasp. Miyoti responded with his own blades as the two began to fight; Zerstorung constantly changing the shape of his as the battle waged on.

Melody had managed to infiltrate the building before any of the others had reached its doors. As she checked the halls of the building she found them covered with the fresh corpses of Miyoti's massacre.

"I hope he's handling Zerstorung well…" she muttered to herself as she made her way to Zerstorung's throne room in order to observe the battle. As she approached the door, she heard several clashes of metal, signifying a battle. When arrived, she saw Zerstorung holding Miyoti up in the air with a single hand, binding him with a tight hand around his neck.

"I was hoping you'd drop by," Zerstorung turned to melody as he thrust his blade into Miyoti's chest and dropped the lifeless body after he had sheathed the dark blade.

"Ah, damn it…" Melody muttered to herself as he turned away from the gruesome scene.

"You know, I could easily wipe out your men, just like that," He snapped his fingers and moved towards her, he paused. "But a game isn't fun when it's so easy…" He laughed as he vanished in a wave of darkness.

The heavy, medic, solder, and the demoman reached the end of the building, eyeing the bodies laid across the floor.

"Someone else has already had a good time around here," the soldier muttered while examining a corpse, dropping it to the ground seconds later.

"Let us hope that it was a friend who had done this and not something worse," the heavy spoke softly as he examined the area, checking for any signs of life other than his allies. As they group surveyed the bloody scene Logia and the sniper approached them.

"You guys do this?" The sniper asked as he looked down at a nearby body.

"It was like this when we got here," the demoman responded, soon turning his attention to Logia. "What's the lad doing with ya? I thought he was supposed to be fighting that guy responsible for this mess."

"I'm not Miyoti, I'm Logia; his grandfather, seeing as we got some spare time I can tell you folks how I retained my youth; It's really just the same way that bitch keeps you staying the same age as your fighting days."

"And that is?" The soldier inquired as he leaned against a nearby wall reaching in his pocket for a cigarette.

"This lovely thing," he withdrew a syringe filled with tan colored liquid. "I don't know the science behind it but it essentially prevents you from aging; I stole it from the witch seeing as she owes me a tad sum for just about killing my grandson."

"No wonder I'm still kicking, I thought I was just in that good of shape," the sniper replied to it, the soldier quickly interjecting.

"Oh please, out of all of us I'd place money you'd croak second to the demoman over here," the soldier proclaimed before drawing the cigarette to his mouth and striking a match.

"I would agree to that, based on your previous condition," the medic spoke as he stood by the heavy, looking intently for Melody, waiting for her to return from Miyoti's battle with Zerstorung.

The sniper was about to respond, but the group saw a figure descend from the hallway to Zerstorung's throne room, slung upon their shoulder was the body of Miyoti.

"Zerstorung got away, though only after killing our one shot at victory," she began to walk past the group, when Logia caught her eye.

"So you finally did it? You killed him, I thought maybe I could prevent but no, you've already sent him on his last suicidal mission," Logia eyed melody intently.

"I had no intention of having him harmed, I only wanted what was best for everyone, and that meant sending him into the line of fire," as the two spoke a soft explosion was heard, followed by several progressively louder ones.

"The hell," the demoman looked around and noticed no signs of a nearby explosion. Melody's phone began to ring; she quickly drew it out and barked into it.

"This isn't a good-"

"Russia just launched several nuclear missiles towards Berlin, we advise you pull out any men you have out there immediately, U.N. forces have already evacuated," the voice on the other end of the phone was Juppé "Our sources tell us it wasn't an act of Russia's own will, but we're-"the signal was lost as another explosion was heard, though louder than all the others.

"Follow me, there's a bomb shelter in this place somewhere," Melody ran through the blood stained halls with the rest of the group following. They ran constantly as the explosions grew louder, as the windows revealed an orange tint in the sky they came upon a large vault. "Seems bulky, but I'm pretty sure this is it."

"Alright, let's crank this thing open!" The soldier and heavy began to turn the large hatch as the door creaked open, with the others rushing inside, the two didn't hesitate to slide inside as fast as they could; closing the large door behind them.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

* * *

It was a bright yet gloomy evening in the city of Paris the following day; a hectic one at that. Boris was sent to the United States after being charged with the launch of the Russian missile collection In Moscow, he was formally in the custody of French officials when he was caught though Juppé sent the fugitive to the States so as to ease France's burden. Though no jurisdiction has been reached as of yet, his fate though was not to rot in prison.

The group was scattered, the demoman and the soldier attending the funeral for Miyoti, the medic continuing to delve into his last patient's history. The others waited around the headquarters for more work, each giving their own reasons for not showing up.

"He was a great asset, shame that he's dead now," the demoman walked with the soldier as they left the funeral home.

"Yeah, I heard Melody felt real sorry after the old, well, young man's bitching about how she cost him his only grandchild; so she had a mausoleum built just for the Takatzi family."

"We'll never need one, considering we can't die according to what he said," the demoman remarked as they walked through the busy streets of Paris back to the WPA building.  
Within the WPA building, the medic sifted through his papers, some regarding his most recent patient dated back to 1996.

_ "June 15th, 1996, I have received a somewhat unusual patient today. It is obviously the RED spy, yet he constantly tells me that his name is Dawn. The person who brought him to me also handed me a picture; it appears to be a young girl, 10 years of age according to the front of the picture, blue hair, somehow, and her clothing seemed very strange. It was a skirt that'd I would estimate being less than 3 or 4 inches in length, odd for her age. She also wore something that caught my eye, it was a logo donned upon her hat, and it looked like some sort of ball. I plan on doing research about that image, as it may lead to the source of this."_

_ "June 17th, 1996, it took me awhile to realize there were instructions on the back of the picture the man had given me along with the patient. They were to rearrange the man according to the picture; later that day I had received several tapes from the same man, of whom I never saw after that encounter. I listened to them, it sounded like a young girl speaking, and I noticed several other voices in the background, it seemed as if they were two teenage boys. Though what caught my interest was the constant babbling that would repeat, though be represented to the human voices as normal conversation. An example of this was numerous squeaks that sounded like it was saying "Piplup," whatever that means. Still no results on the logo, though I suppose what the man wanted is for me to change his voice according to the tape…I guess."_

_ "July 1st, 1996, the procedure is complete, I consider it practice, but I am still left in the dark as to who or what wanted me to do this. I felt some sick pride in reassembling the spy, perhaps it was the fact that he would do this on a daily basis; it would be a good joke to do it for him. Though the clothes still elude me, I'm not sure if he wants me to do something about that, but one thing is for certain the spy's old clothes do not fit. Quite amazing what science can do nowadays, I never imagined be able to take a man and make a…well, girl. I never really spoke to the patient, only when they were first placed in my custody did I mutter a single line of conversation, perhaps I should test their voice to see if I had gotten it right."_

The medic closed the log, noting that he had not found anything new regarding the tapes, nor the logo despite 7 grueling years of research. He walked out of his office to greet the demoman and the soldier as they stepped out of the elevator.

"How was it? Did many people show up?" The medic inquired.

"Mostly family and friends, it wrapped up fairly quickly," the demoman walked over to a nearby fold-up chair and turned the TV on.

"Well one thing's for sure, that bastard who did it ain't dead yet!" The soldier marched to the armory to deposit his rocket launcher.

"Oh hey, story's on about that bugger who launched the nukes at us!" The sniper turned his attention to the screen.

"A man with no last name, simply known as Boris, is the only surviving member of the Black Hand; a former Russian terrorist group that began around 1995. Charges may be dropped in exchange that he be sent to boot camp to serve his sentence in the military," the announcer sitting behind the desk turned to an image in the corner of the screen, containing another man.

"Now what's the deal with letting such a dangerous man off the hook?"

"Well the military is looking for every good fighter they can get since the war in France and Germany ended. Security is at an all time high after the near catastrophic climax to the conflict, so having more men in the forces would help increase their ability to fight back if something like this were to happen again," the other man replied.

"If he can fight, then I'm sure we can use him," the man chuckled as he went on to another story.

"Military? I wish they'd hang the bastard for near killing us!" The sniper exclaimed.

"Well couldn't we just be revived like we were every time back in the days of RED and BLU?" The soldier remarked.

"Believe me, you do not want to survive a nuclear holocaust, the after-effects are devastating, and the revival serum would most likely be unable to fully cure you of radiation poisoning," the medic replied, taking a seat across from the sniper.

"I suppose, nasty shit that radiation…" The soldier paced back and forth, as the heavy stood up.

"I wonder how much longer we must wait until we can fight once more, I do not wish to spend another seven years sitting around in this building," the heavy spoke quietly, gun in hand.

"I think I've got an idea of how this fellow works; he only shows up every now and then, and when he does we've got quite a problem on our hands," the sniper replied.

"So you are saying we must sit here and wait until he sends his tiny men after us?"

"Unfortunately; we're on Melody's payroll, so that means we've got to do whatever she tells us. Besides, this sure beats working in the military."

"I guess we'll have to find something else to pass the time," the medic arose from his seat "If you'll excuse me I have much work to do involving a previous patient of mine," he walked back into his room as the group continued their conversation.

"Thinking back way when we were still fighting for RED, I always wondered who was really pulling the strings," the sniper brought his hand to his chin whilst pondering the question he presented.

"Wasn't it the one announcing everything?" the demoman replied.

"I don't think it was just her; that company that supplied us our weapons probably had something to do with it," the sniper said, referring to Mann co.; once belonged to Saxton Hale, bankrupted around 1997 due to the end of the conflict between RED and BLU; though bought out and used to manufacture weaponry for WPA agents in 1998. Hale resides in his home country of Australia, still able to live luxuriously due to the remaining funds from Mann co.

"You know what I'm wondering about is what happened to the rest of our teammates, seeing as every member on BLU except the scout was killed, ironically the only member on our team to have died was the scout, far as I know," the demoman muttered.

"Now wait, how did those BLU pansies die? I thought they had the technology to resurrect as well," the soldier stopped pacing and returned to the conversation.

"Good question, no one around here knows the answer to it though," the sniper remarked. "I think the BLU scout went back to wherever his mother lives, but the others on our team I'm not so sure about," he paused. "Now wait, I think I remember seeing the spy not too long ago, some military base in Versailles, apparently he worked there before it got sacked, and he's a private in the U.S. army."

"Would you look at that, even the spy can get in the army while the soldier didn't have a chance in hell."

"I've put that behind me since the end of our previous conflict, that being the one with RED and BLU; not the one we just fought."

"I guess that rehab center they put you through before joining up helped; though I still think you're a bit off," the sniper remarked as he turned his head back to the heavy "Like the medic said, we need to find something to do if our only job Is keeping that bugger with the army of dinosaurs out."

"Perhaps we should pursue old friends; if we find them then we might be able use them in our next fight with the tiny cowards."

"That might work…only one I know that's around here is the spy. Though we probably shouldn't bother with him, I think the army is working him over," as the sniper finished his sentence, the soldier interjected.

"Hell the army is probably just surveying the area right now, I'm sure we could find him if we tried."

"Even if we did he wouldn't be able to help, he's got to serve his tour of duty."

"I've got an idea;" the demoman interrupted the two "We should head back to our old base, maybe check out the places we weren't supposed to go."

"Place is run down I bet, so I'm sure there wouldn't be any security; alright, I suppose since this place ain't getting any more exciting we should make plans," the sniper walked up and knocked on the medic's door "You still busy in there, doc?"

"Very; whatever it is you four are up to leave me out of it," the medic replied, quickly returning to the numerous papers spread out over his desk, gently writing down new words onto the piece in front of him.

"Alright, medic's out; I'll run this up with the boss real quick," the sniper walked away from the group and headed down the narrow hallway to Melody's office.

"Yes?" Melody inquired, as the sniper walked into the vast office. "Do you need something?"

"I and the others, except the medic, are going to be heading out for awhile; and by awhile I mean about a day or two."

"Nothing is really going on at the moment, so you're free to do whatever you want," she motioned him to leave with the wave of a hand. The sniper shut the door behind him and walked back to the group.

"Well we've got clearance so pack your stuff and I'll be waiting in the front," the sniper approached the elevator nearby and hit the down arrow, entered, and disappeared as the doors shut behind him. The group of three scattered to their rooms, the heavy deciding to take his sandwich and machine gun. the demoman brought his grenade launcher, an axe, and several sticks of dynamite. The soldier packed several rockets and slugs into a duffle bag, neatly fitting his rocket launcher inside before closing it, and carrying his shotgun on his back using a shoulder-strap similar to the duffle bag.

"Let's see, maybe if I go along the road like last time I'll get there as quick as we did before," the sniper muttered to himself, looking over a map of France, eyeing the roads marked on the map. "Bingo," he marked a piece of the map with a pen to indicate his path, an almost straight line to Versailles. As the sniper stowed the map away; he looked out from the front window to see the heavy and soldier alongside the demoman bickering about something.

"Okay, okay, maybe we can do rock-paper-scissors."

"I say Russian-Roulette; oh wait."

"Demoman's idea it is," the heavy nodded and the demoman looked over at the soldier; the two of shaking their fists to initiate the game.

"Scissors!" the soldier held a fist out; whilst the demoman kept an open palm."…Damn it."

"I cannot fit in tiny seat, so passenger seat is yours; demoman," the heavy walked towards the back of the van, dragging the soldier along with him.

"First stop is Versailles; we won't find the spy there but hopefully we'll find some information that will in turn lead us to him," the sniper said; adjusting the side mirror of his van. Everyone sat in the car quietly as the sniper started it, slowly pulling away from the imposing WPA HQ building.

"And to think everyone's made to believe this thing is abandoned," the demoman looked over at the WPA's building as they drove off into the city.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

* * *

As the WPA crew was on their way to Versailles; Zerstorung had already begun plotting another attack.

Zerstorung walked through his ship, inspecting all the soldiers to insure that they were working, each of them wearing armor that seemed like it belonged on a 14th century warlord.

"Our forces are fully prepared for another attack, my liege," Esool approached Zerstorung as he passed another set of soldiers, working on some sort of machine.

"That's fine and all, but I would prefer we wait a bit more before another strike," he paused, Esool giving him a blank stare; despite having no visible facial features "They have no way of winning the battle, it'd be quite unfair for us to attack so soon."

"Isn't that what we want though?"

"Mowing down the opposition is never fun, besides, this might be fun to watch," Zerstorung made his way into his throne room with Esool following close behind.

"At least invest your time in something other than idly spectating," Esool begged him.

"Has the reaper project seen any progress?"

"It has, though most of our time is being spent domesticating the creatures that fellow brought along."

"I want both done as soon as possible; also get someone to find that assassin I hired."

"Yes, my liege," Esool walked away as Zerstorung motioned him to go. Esool traversed the spacious ship, occasionally looking out at the vast abyss overlooking Earth.

"Is there anything you need, sir?" A soldier looked up at Esool.

"Not at the time, continue working," the soldier nodded and returned to his work, gathering with a group of soldiers similar to him.

Esool approached a sealed door that was controlled by a small keypad to the side. He slid a card in lieu of entering a number combination as the door slowly opened. As he walked past the door it shut behind him and sealed itself shut once more.

"I'm glad you've come, sir, follow me," a worker in a lab coat approached Esool and directed him throughout the area "The domestication process is going quite well, though we have yet to tame the larger creatures that beast spawned." The worker pointed at a group of large carnivores locked in steel cages.

"And the reapers?" Esool inquired.

"We think we've perfected the design of the creature; though we have yet to find a way of making it a sentient being," he pointed to a mounted skeleton with a deformed skull and chest twice the size of the rest of it's body. In it's grip it had a large axe; Esool removed the axe from it and lifted it.

"Pretty heavy to be wielded with a single hand," he returned the axe to the propped skeleton and turned the worker.

"The plan is to make it strong enough to do such a feat. Our only difficulty is making it live."

"Why not have the master give it life?"

"It would be too much of a hassle for him to do that for every single one we make; if we can make them animate without his help, it'll be much easier to mass produce them."

"Alright, now show me the progress you've made with the dinosaurs."

"Of course, let me lead the way..." The two walked past the large group of workers in the room, all of them working on something different. They entered an arena like room, where a group of velociraptors were tearing at propped up targets. The two were separated from the raptors by an iron fence that scaled to the roof of the station.

"Impressive, hopefully they will be of more use than our last conflict."

"Oh they will be, having them under our control allows for less a chance of friendly fire caused by the creatures mistaking us for the enemy," as the two discussed the raptor, another worker approached them.

"New orders from the boss, he wants us to start working on plans for a base to be built on the north pole down on Earth."

"I suppose we will have to balance that with our other projects; if you'll excuse me, sir, I have to get back to work," the two workers walked away as Esool took one more look at the raptor's training before following them.

Esool watched as the door sealed behind him as he exited the research division of the ship. He had decided to hunt for Pandora himself, rather than risk a soldier. He passed through the bustling ship, going towards the landing bay in which he had parked his space craft. It was a small pod built for a single person, armed with a pair of small turrets in the front. As Esool entered his vehicle he looked out at the other ships; almost all of them were similar to one another, all of them resembling some type of fighter jet. He launched his ship out of the landing bay, making his way towards Earth.

In a military base located in Atlanta, Georgia, Boris had begun training as his sentence given due to his actions in Moscow. Rather than his fire-proof suit and flamethrower, he donned a military uniform and M16. He and his troop were due to graduate from boot camp in a matter of days, and be sent off to wherever the army needed them. Boris struck a conversation with a fellow soldier; both of them came from Kaspiysk, but didn't have many things in common.

"We get out of this hell hole soon, god only knows what waits for us after this," the soldier withdrew a cigarette and struck and match, lit it, and tossed the match to the ground.

"One things for sure, I'm holding on to my flamethrower; it's the last piece of memorabilia I have of my parents."

"Oh yeah? Funny thing is that your buddy from the old organization you and that girl ran back in Kaspiysk killed mine in that bombing," the soldier replied bitterly.

"Better than having them get offed by Zerstorung's men, doubt the result would've been any different."

"At least they'd have a chance to survive, but I suppose you're right in a way."

"I'm surprised I haven't asked yet, but what's your name?"

"Mac. Only reason everyone here knows your name is because your "that guy who nuked Germany"."

"Well, what was your original name?"

"Vladimir, common name I know, had it changed when I moved here after the bombings."

"Drafted I presume."

"Yeah, managed to get a nice apartment before being enlisted."

"Where at?"

"Some place in the Bronx, still paying for it today."

"Let's pray we get put in the same joint, eh?"

"I'm sure we will, we are in the same troop,right?" Boris nodded as Mac took one last puff of the cigarette and tossed it to the ground.

"Times short, we can pick up this conversation tomorrow," Boris said, noticing the time by the light given off from the setting sun. The two entered the bunk as the camp prepared for the night. The entire base slowly quieted down as the moon rose from the sky.

Around the same time, several hundred miles away; Douglas looked out from the window at the streets of Boston. He lived only a few miles from the Scout, but preferred to keep his presence a secret from him and his mother. After numerous years in the military he had attained the rank of Officer Cadet, hoping one day to be a general. He glanced briefly at the framed photo of him and the Scout's mother as he removed the gas mask he always wore in public since waking up outside the WPA building. His mind drifted as he remembered that day, he had found himself on the ground in front of the imposing building; unable to remember why or how he had gotten there. All he could remember was that he was no longer his suave masculine self, his body was completely altered to that of a young girl's with some exceptions. He managed to keep this a secret by enlisting in the army with a fake name; and changing his voice to his old one periodically. When he awoke that day he had only his balisong and revolver, no sign of his disguise kit and sapper; or even his watch for that matter. He stopped thinking and laid down in his bed, bothered by the hair he for some reason now had, despite being bald for so long. He blamed it on whatever altered his appearance and went to sleep.

In the dark of the night, back in Paris, France, the medic slaved away at finding the answers to the many questions he had. Who was the man who gave him that spy? Why did the spy say his name was Dawn? And where did that hat even come from? He looked everywhere for a hat similar to one shown in the picture, yet couldn't find a single one that looked anything like it. He listened to the tape hundreds of times, and hasn't found anyone that sounded like the people in the recording. He set the tape and his pen down and walked out into the break room and grabbed the remote as he placed himself on one of the chairs.

"Any luck?" Melody had stepped out of her office briefly, for the same reasons as the Medic; tired of work.

"None at all; I might even consider asking the others for assistance in this matter," the Medic flipped through the channels, stopping at what seemed like a children's show. "I wonder what this is doing on so late..."he spoke quietly as Melody made an observation.

"I think I've seen this before, some show made in Japan sent to America and now it's here, somehow," the medic listened to the show go on for a few minutes before changing the channel. "Pretty sure it's called Pokemon, my guess is that they just picked it up from America and translated it."

"Perhaps something interesting has happened recently," he switched to the local news as Melody boarded the elevator nearby. "Where are you off to so late?"

"Off to run some errands real quick, some stores are still open about now," the elevator shut as the medic continued staring at the television.

After several hours of flying Esool arrived in a small suburb in Tours, he carefully maneuvered his craft into a small clearing. After exiting it he pressed a button on the inside of it, causing it to slowly turn invisible. In order to blend in he changed his appearance to that of a regular man, roaming the sidewalks inspecting each house he passed. Most of the house's lights were out, allowing him to peek into the windows in the veil of darkness. His search went on for quite sometime to no avail. After looking into almost every house on the street he came upon the final house on the block, a two-story building with a slick looking sports car parked in the driveway. He checked every window he could, seeing no one on the first floor. He morphed into a spider in order to get easy access to the second floor. As he peered through the window he saw a bedroom, it appeared to be that of a young child, complete with a young boy sleeping soundly in his bed. He continued across the floor and looked into another windows, seeing a little girl sleeping in the same manner as the other child. The last window he looked into revealed what he was looking for, it was Pandora. He assumed the children in the other room were hers, though he did not know who fathered them; using his small stature he slipped into the house, scurrying about looking for some sort of documentation that would provide this information. He didn't bother searching the drawers, and instead after searching Pandora's room moved through the hallway and into the little girl's room. He saw on the wall a certificate that read "Emily a reçu un diplôme le jardin d'enfants", it was in french; he translated it easily. The certificate said that she had graduated kindergarten, judging by the placement of the certificate, he assumed the little girl was Emily. He moved to the young boy's room and saw a similar certificate, though in place of "Emily" there was "Miyoti". Esool only thought it was a coincidence that the child was named exactly like the Takatzi child that Zerstorung had killed. After obtaining the names of the two and Pandora's location, he exited the house the same way he got in and made his way back to his cloaked vehicle.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

* * *

"Who'd have thought the place would've been wrecked so bad?" The sniper spoke to the others packed into the camper van, the soldier now sitting in front in lieu of the demoman.

"Told ya we should have just gone to 2fort," the soldier spoke to the sniper whilst directing his attention out the window.

"I'm parched, we should stop somewhere real fast before we drive any longer," the demoman said.

"I was thinking that too, now if there was just a place to park around here."

"Sniper just park on the curb!" The soldier ordered the sniper, aiming a finger at him. The sniper took a quick glance out the soldier's window before bringing the van to a halt.

"Alright blokes get out of the car," the sniper exited the van after putting it in park, the rest of the group soon following. They made their way down the street to a cafe not too far from the place the sniper had parked.

"Damn frenchies don't have anything good, I'll just get coffee," the soldier said, glaring at the menu only being able to recognize a fraction of the words.

"I will take sandwich," the heavy noticed it immediately out of the long list of items.

"Just get me whatever the soldier is getting," the demoman said to the sniper, who nodded.

"Alright I suppose I'll be paying so I want the lot of you to just stay in one place while I'm gone," the sniper walked towards the stand while the group conversed. The sniper spoke fractured french but was able to form comprehensible sentences. On his way back he was stopped by a man.

"You look familiar, I swear I've seen you somewhere before," the man examined the sniper.

"I doubt it, only people I've socialized with is the wankers at that fancy building and the blokes I work with," the sniper replied.

"WPA, right?"

"Yeah, that's the place I've been working at for the past 7 years, though most people are kept in the dark about it."

"Huh, well I used to be stationed at a base in Versailles not too long ago."

"Then you must be that Irish fellow we drove to the border of Berlin."

"Indeed I am, pleasure to meet ya, name's Collin," He reached out his arm for a hand shake.

"I don't bother with names, just call me sniper," the two shook hands, the sniper bringing him along back to the group.

"I believe I killed most cowards that day," the heavy said, engaged in an argument about who had killed the most people during the siege of Berlin.

"Not a chance! I killed near a thousand of those bastards!" The soldier retorted.

"Are we counting those lizards too?" the demoman queried as he noticed the sniper walking back. The sniper gave the demoman and the soldier their drinks, and the heavy his sandwich.

"This is not like sandwich I know," the heavy commented on the sandwich, eating it after giving it a long stare.

"Alright so who's this guy, sniper?" The soldier asked.

"That bloke we picked up back when we were heading for Berlin, you know when we saw that raptor?"

"Now wait, wasn't he stationed at the same base as the spy?"

"Spy?" Collin said, confused.

"He means a former partner of ours, he used to work with us back in the day when we were at RED; last I saw of em was when I was taking out that wanker who knew too much down at that base."

"Could you tell me a little bit about this friend of yours?"

"When I saw em he was wearing a gas mask so I couldn't tell you what his face looked like, but he had his old french accent as usual and he could switch between some girl's voice and his own."

"Now that you say that I think he was that one with the odd-looking face, way different than anything I've ever seen in my life, all I know is that he was stationed in Versailles and that he looks like a damn girl."

"Can you remember at all what his face looked like?"

"You know I'm a pretty good sketcher, If you got me a pen and paper I could draw it out."

"I've got some in the glove compartment I'll be right back," the sniper walked off towards the van while the soldier turned his attention back to Collin.

"So how did you sissies fair at that line you were holding back in Berlin?"

"We managed to hold it, though we lost a lot of good men on that line; I got off with a bite wound or two and have a purple heart to show for it."

"What got ya?"

"One was from a raptor, other one was from an attack dog; not sure why they even had dogs."

"I think I saw a dog or two while we were fighting our way through Berlin the first time around, though not a single one the second time we went there," the demoman said.

"My bet is that they were German dogs, Zerstorung recruited a lot of soldiers from there when he took over," Collin replied.

"Okay, I got your supplies, now draw," the sniper handed Collin a pen and a piece of paper, and he sat down at the patio of the cafe and began to sketch something out. After a couple minutes he stopped and picked the paper up, presenting it to the group.

"Not bad, huh?" The group stared at the picture in shock.

"What the hell is that?" The soldier continued to look down on it.

"That cannot be spy, spy is man, and that is not man!" The heavy commented on it.

"Blimey you're right, I've never seen anyone come even close to looking like that," the sniper turned to Collin.

"Feel free to keep it," Collin handed the sniper the sketch.

"Nice drawing though, got to give you that mate," the sniper said as he pocketed it.

"So you're saying that there is someone on this planet walking in broad daylight that looks like that abomination?" The soldier barked at Collin.

"He keeps his mask on near all the time, never saw it off him except that one time on the boat to Versailles, so I wouldn't worry about seeing that face waltzing around."

"Good, because If I do see him I do not care if he was once my co-worker, I will pulverize him."

"I say if we see him we take him to the medic, and get him fixed, rather than murdering him in cold blood," the sniper replied.

"My point stands."

"Alright, give me that paper for a second would you?" The sniper handed Collin the sketch, soon getting it back wit ha number on the back. "That's my number if you want to keep in touch, I live down in Versailles since I'm still waiting to be reassigned," he walked off as the sniper motioned the group back to the van.

"I guess it's 2fort than back to the WPA," the sniper put the van in drive as he re-pocketed the sketch with Collin's number on the back.

"Now I'm curious about the spy, I really want to know why the hell he looks like that," the demoman said from the back of the van.

"Maybe medic can shed light on it, we will ask him once we return to base," the heavy replied.

After a long flight and hours of driving the group had managed to reach 2fort, though it was in terrible condition and miles from civilization. The soldier began rummaging through the old lockers in the spawn room, while the sniper eyed the dated calendar on the wall.

"This gives you a nice idea of how long this place has been like this," the sniper said, flipping through the 1996 calendar on the wall.

"Look what I found in truckie's old locker!" The soldier walked over to the sniper and showed the object to him; it was a log. The sniper took hold of it and brushed the dust off of it and began reading.

"January 15th, 1968

I don't normally write in a log when I'm not working on something, but this is an exception. Today I noticed our team's spy lying on the ground after he tried taking my teleporter (despite me not having built an exit) when it was destroyed by the enemy pyro. It should have just not worked, rather it knocked him out like a light. I took him back into the spawn room to avoid having him get killed. When he woke up he didn't know a damn thing about this place or even himself. I shrugged it off as amnesia and let him camp out in the spawn room for awhile. I hope he recovers."

The sniper continued reading, the soldier looking over his shoulder.

"January 16th, 1968

Our spy is still in our spawn room, despite me trying to explain to him what he should be doing. I decided to see if it was amnesia, or something worse. I asked him what his name was (though I know he would never tell) though I didn't get the answer I expected. He said his name was Dawn, so I decided to ask him another question. How old are you? He responded with "10" I was shocked at this point and simply walked away and left the spy moping in a corner of the spawn room. My teleporter is to blame for this; I know that wasn't the spy,I doubt my teleporter can give people multiple identities. This is why I have chosen to rebuild my teleporter and use it, praying wherever I end up I'll find the spy and be able to return him to RED. I'm taking extra metal with me in case I get stuck, and of course I'll be packing heat."

"That's the last entry," the soldier said, pointing at the blank space below the writing.

"Wherever that teleporter took him is probably where he is now," the sniper wondered aloud.

"Keep that log, I want to show it to the medic when we get back, maybe he'll know something about it."

the demoman and the heavy made their way out of the BLU base and across the bridge back to RED's base, the two making small talk on the way there.

"Perhaps the survivors were just lucky," the heavy said.

"I doubt that fate would kill only our scout and leave only their scout, there must be some explanation to it," the demoman retorted.

"There you guys are, look, we're getting out of here since there isn't much to see other than a run down crap shack," the soldier walked past them, the sniper soon following.

"Come on, we gotta catch our flight out of here," the sniper motioned the heavy and the demoman out of the RED base just as they had entered.

After another long flight the four had finally returned to the WPA building, taking the elevator to the eighth floor. Upon reaching their destination the demoman and the heavy headed to their rooms, while the soldier hunted down the medic and the sniper turned on the television.

"Doc, take a look at this; me and sniper found it back at our old base in 2fort," the soldier handed the medic the engineer's log.

"Hm? Alright, shouldn't take too long," the medic scanned through it fairly quickly when his eyes were drawn to the log entry for January 16th, 1968. He pulled out his old logs of the patient he had received back in 96'. "Could it be?" he muttered to himself.

"What? What is it doc?"

"I believe I am on to something for the first time in seven years."

"What are you on about?" The soldier looked down at the medic's logs and scanned them while the medic paced back and forth thinking to himself.

"The spy mentioned in engineer's logs, he must have been the one I had operated on..."

"I think I recognize the person in this picture here, doc." The soldier was holding the picture the medic had been given by the man who dropped the spy off at the WPA.

"Oh really? If you did that would help me tremendously."

"I'm pretty sure that's the spy, or at least what he is now."

"Well I can tell you now that it isn't, I had that picture before I turned the spy into that..."

"So according to these logs all we know about this person is that their name is Dawn and they're 10; what a lead we have." the soldier said sarcastically.

"If we can just figure out where that person is, we can probably find the engineer as well."

"From the looks of that picture they sure as hell ain't from earth."

"I can take it from here, soldier, go get some rest, you've been out for 3 days."

"Yeah yeah, I'll go," the soldier left the medic to his work and headed to his room as the sniper continued to watch the television.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

* * *

It was a new day at the WPA HQ, all of it's inhabitants following their daily routine. As usual the sniper had awakened first, though rather than his daily target practice he made his way out of the building and into his van withdrawing a small sticky from his dashboard with a list of instructions; chores to be done today given by Melody. He scanned the list quickly and began on the first task, which was to retrieve the munitions shipment to store in their armory. He began to think to himself about what Collin said about the spy, or at least what he had revealed to him. He knew that the WPA would benefit greatly if the spy were to be reunited with the remaining RED members, but he put this thought aside to finish the tasks Melody had given him. As he approached his destination, a large building that was evidently the Mann Co. now used to produce the weaponry they used at the WPA, and pulled up to the front of the building, parked, and stepped inside.

"Good morning, sir, anything we can do for you today?" A man behind the desk sitting to the side of the entrance beckoned the sniper.

"I'm here to pick up some guns, by chance do you happen to have these guns?" the sniper queried sarcastically, as he knew they had the shipment waiting for him.

"You're obviously from the WPA, I can tell from the symbol sewn over your old one," the man pointed to the symbol that replaced what was a cross-hair on the sniper's shoulder, now being a pink shield with two white ribbons extending from it.

"I'll tell you right now I'm not too fond of these new ones the boss has been handing out, they're too cheery for me."

"How did the soldier take it?"

"Better than I thought, not too well, but if it weren't for that rehab center he'd have gone nuts."

"Kind of like how the medic needed to take those medical-classes in order to practice in the building?"

"Exactly, that broad knows what she's doing, can't risk it with those two."

"Alright well we've got the shipment ready out back, just need to load it up in your van, assuming you still drive it."

"Oh I do, lazy wankers can't get their own car so they just ride with me."

"Go figure, anyways I think the guys in the back found your van, they're taking care of the loading."

"After all these years they should recognize it, this is about the 40-50th time I've dropped by this place."

"I just started working at this Mann Co., used to work at the old one before your employer bought it out."

"Okay mate, I'll be trucking off now with our shiny new weapons, see ya," the sniper tipped his hat and walked out the door, heading to the now loaded van.

"Ready to go, call us if anything starts acting funny," one of the workers pointed at the back of the van as he walked back to the building. The sniper nodded briefly as he passed the worker and entered the van, preparing his trek back to the HQ.

"It is hopeless, all that picture did was raise my hopes for something that can never happen," the medic spread the numerous pictures and documents laid out on his desk in frustration.

"I suppose this is dead end, doctor, perhaps you should forget about mystery," the heavy suggested, towering behind him.

"Ah, since this work has brought me nothing but confusion and suffering I shall put it aside..." he carefully placed all the papers into one neat folder and stashed it away.

"Now this brings us to other problem, we have nothing to kill, and we get no pay."

"I know, heavy, but we must wait this out like we had to when we first joined with this...employer."

"Perhaps taste of blood has made us impatient, I will bare with it, but only for as long as we have done so in the past."

"7 years?" The heavy nodded "Hopefully the soldier will take this well, the demoman seems to be quite occupied considering he has a second job working for the city."

"Demoman with tiny french men?"

"He levels buildings, to make way for new ones in their place or to clear areas of long abandoned ones."

"And you, doctor?"

"I have been concocting several things and put some ads in the local paper in order to get patients, you know how it works, get paid to have tests done on you."

"How is turn out?"

"Quite good, It hasn't cost me too much money and I have been able to confirm the effects of most of my homemade medicines," as the two continued their conversation the sniper could be heard in the distance, his voice emitting from a small intercom by the elevator.

"One of you blokes help me with this rubbish, can't carry it myself," the soldier was sitting in the lobby and quickly boarded the elevator, searching for something to do.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch I'm co- oh wait he's got it, never mind, back to the cellar with me," the demoman stumbled back into his room after noticing the soldier had answered the sniper's plea. The sniper leaned near the door as the soldier exited the elevator and approached the entrance of the building.

"Sniper!"

"Eh? Oh it's you, could have told me you were on your way down here, I was ready to sock ya if you were one of those lackeys from the seventh floor," the sniper motioned the soldier out of the building and towards his van.

"Did you get a peek at it yet?"

"Never bothered to open it, come on you carry this end I'll grab the other," the soldier quickly grabbed hold of the large crate while the sniper eased his grip on it before moving it out of the vehicle. "Steady, steady..."

"I love it when we get new shipments from that place, it's like Christmas morning!"

"You're a tad enthusiastic today," the sniper said while carefully moving the crate through the doorway barely large enough to fit it.

"Slow day, as always..." the soldier muttered in a depressed tone.

"When something does happen though we've got a long job ahead of us."

"Sort of makes up for it, but all this peace time really gets on my nerves, I need to kill someone every once in awhile."

"I know how you feel, I say just brush up on some critters to keep yourself from forgetting what you've learned back at RED."

"Hunting animals isn't the same as hunting your foes in the heat of war."

"Better than nothing, oh and careful putting this thing in the elevator, we've got to fit in there too," the sniper said as the two attempted to get the crate into the elevator so that they could ride it as well.

"How about we just send the crate up?"

"Nah, can't count on those lazy buggers for nothing, just fit it in and let's head up," the two continuously shoved the crate until there was a small spot left in the elevator, they managed to fit themselves in and start the elevator to the eighth floor. They patiently waited whilst being smashed against the sides of the elevator by the crate, when finally the door opened and they rushed out, hauling the crate with them.

"So we have new weapons now?" The heavy walked out from the medic's office and peered at the crate.

"Right here," the soldier hit the crate several times in reassurance, he quickly withdrew his shovel and used it like a crowbar to pry it open, within seconds he managed to snap the side of it open, quickly looting what was in it.

"Now this, is a nice weapon..." the sniper admired the kukri he withdrew from the crate, sharper than his current one, it was obvious which one he was going to use.

"Different bullet for sasha?" the heavy examined the numerous cases of ammo, noticing the small print on them.

"Experimental "Sasha" Cartridges- BIOCHEMICAL HAZARD"

The heavy read the warning on the case and loaded them into his machine gun, replacing his old ammunition.

"This looks quite different than my other medical gear," the medic commented on the storage unit he retrieved from the crate, noting that it had several bars of Australium placed in it. He attached it to his medical-gun while the soldier claimed his item, soon calling out the demoman to retrieve his.

"Demo, get your frilly ass out here and take what's yours!" The soldier barked.

"Yeah yeah I'm coming, what's with all the ordering around today..." the demoman lurched out from his room and toward the busted open crate as the soldier held his item.

"Huh, looks like ammo, kind of like what the heavy got..." He held one of the rockets from the case and saw a small piece of australium on the tip of each rocket, he soon replaced the ammo in his rocket launcher with his newly obtained ammo.

"Do these people think this is funny?" the demoman withdrew a large battle axe from the crate, though it's grip was lined with gold, and the blade pure australium.

"Guess you're going to be bludgeoning those monsters face to face this time around," the sniper referring to the dinosaurs Zerstorung's forces used.

The WPA bustled for hours over their new weaponry, though they were not the only ones gearing up for the battle that both sides knew was imminent. The United States wasn't about to lose it's position as the world's super power to France simply because of the WPA. In a tech race rivaling the Cold War era, the amount of military technology being built upon increased tenfold. Like the Cold War the United States kept their working as secretive as possible.

At a remote military base located in the Nevada badlands testing of their experimental weapons was underway, from new types of pistols to earth shattering nuclear arms. Though it wasn't a test site for any type of nuclear weapon obviously. Amongst the soldiers given these prototypes was Boris, in his hands he had a flamethrower being designed to shoot further and increase the longevity of the flames by utilizing napalm and compressed air, like the Pyro's flamethrower(Now belonging to Boris).

"This new device makes my job even easier than it was before!" Boris exclaimed from underneath the heavy equipment he wore whilst torching several propped up objects.

"Can't wait to test these things on that bastard's cronies, they sure as hell pack a punch," a soldier not too far from him commented, holding a prototype rifle in his hands.

"Of course, but on another note have you heard that we've actually negotiated peace with China and North Korea?"

"Weren't we already at peace with those fellows?"

"We were, but now they've agreed to cease their testing and production of nuclear weapons."

"Why would they do something like that?"

"Probably the scare Zerstorung caused by launching that blitzkrieg on Russia and Germany, nearly overtaking both within a week."

"Wouldn't that make them want to proceed with their nuclear projects?"

"Considering the WPA is the one that fought them off, combined with the United States, France managed to win the two over," Boris started up another burst of flames on the targets, soon stepping aside to allow the other soldier onto the range. Boris watched as the soldier tore large chunks out of the cardboard targets with single shots of the rifle, in some cases completely decimating the target with a single well placed shot.

"Imagine shooting someone with this thing, they'd need one hell of a vest to live through that!" the soldier proclaimed clenching the gun tightly.

"I'm sure Zerstorung's crew is scheming up ways to counter our new toys."

"I doubt he would find all of our testing areas, even with spy planes or a satellite or two; because than we would just have them shot down considering the new airspace law to keep his crafts out of the skies- no response or verification of ownership by another country, and we take it down."

"Any innocent lives claimed by it yet?"

"Surprisingly no, it seems like a pretty fool-proof, only flaw is that if Zerstorung's forces learn about this they'll try to imitate a normal voice to evade that barrier."

"It's not like other countries need to fly non-commercial crafts around us."

"True, but it was passed a short time ago, so they'll probably ratify it."

The two continued to chat for quite some time about the world's affairs while testing the weapons they were given.

Back in France, in the city of Tours, a single minion of Zerstorung kept to the shadows. In his hand a chain leash attached the neck of a velociraptor wearing a small piece of body armor. The two passed through the city without a single trace, keeping hidden with ease. This type of soldier would come to be known as a Hunter due to being nicknamed by the WPA Soldiers during Operation Guardian in 2028. The soldier found his target in a small suburb, carefully walking with his partner. He withdrew a USP .45 and quickly attached a silencer to it. The raptor stood idle and cocked its head upwards in anticipation, giving the Hunter a blank stare. He motioned the raptor to follow him and he carefully broke the lock on a nearby window using a knife. The window popped open with a silent snap and he jumped through, the raptor following with a long leap, though managing to make little noise due to pads attached to its feet to prevent such a thing.

The Hunter dug through his uniform and withdrew a small photo, his target, and showed it to the raptor, after giving it good look, the raptor looked away as a signal it knew what to do. The Hunter motioned the raptor to move up ahead of him through the house, it slowly made its way through the hallway, its eyes darting from room to room hunting for its target. It's search ended when it stopped moving and it's attention focused into one area, the living room. In the living room a young woman was reading a book to two small children, the woman was Pandora, the assassin hired not too long ago at an early attempt for Miyoti's life. The raptor locked its eyes onto Pandora and prepared to charge, she looked up from the book to realize the two figures standing not so far from her, both with a murderous glare in their eyes. As the raptor charged and started a leap towards her, she withdrew a small blade from her heel and engaged the raptor in battle. The Hunter watched for a few moments, and the second Pandora rose her blade in an attempt to impale the raptor, he cocked the pistol in his grip and fired three precise shots into her head. The raptor backed away as the Hunter pulled the blade from her cold hands and sliced her neck apart with a few quick chops, discarding the tool into the nearby fireplace that had been recently lit. The Hunter looked over at the children, the little girl had passed out, but the boy stood his ground in a false attempt at bravery. The Hunter slowly approached him, and when he still refused to back down he received a swift judo chop to the neck, taking him down in a fraction of a second. The Hunter smiled from behind his gear, and mounted the children onto the raptor using a leather strap for each of them, and stashed Pandora's severed head in a burlap sack, making sure to bleed it out so as to avoid spilling any in the streets, thus giving him away. Before leaving he stole several cans of aerosol from the house, and used them in combination with his lighter to torch the house and escape soon after. The Hunter and raptor walked off into the shadows of Tours, Emily and Miyoti in hand.

"Sir, that assassin you hired?"

"What about her, did you take care of it?"

"One of our stealth-troops assassinated her clean and efficiently, though if it's okay I gave him extra orders to kidnap the children."

"That gives me a fun idea, this is why you're my adviser, Esool."

"Of course my liege."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

* * *

The Hunter had made its way back to Zerstorung's space station, and waited near the entrance for Esool to arrive. By its side a raptor with the motionless bodies of Emily and Miyoti.

"I presume these are the children?" Esool stepped out from the shadows and appeared before the Hunter.

"They are, did the master want them?" The Hunter replied.

"He didn't specify, but he did say he had an idea for them when I told them you had captured them."

"I'll take that as a yes then, here, take the brats, I have better things to do," the Hunter motioned the raptor towards Esool. It took a quick glance at him before ducking down and allowing him to take the two children fastened to its back.

"You will be contacted if your services are needed again," Esool walked away with the two children in arm, the Hunter soon making his way through the base to his cell with his raptor, cells being what Zerstorung's soldiers used as their own rooms so that the station could easily be used to hold prisoners if necessary.

"The soldier we sent finished the job?" Zerstorung directed his attention to Esool as he entered the room.

"Clean and efficiently, not a trace left, my liege," Esool laid the bodies down near Zerstorung after finishing his sentence.

"Perhaps we should invest in training a few more men like him, but let's leave that for another time, right now I need some time to plan this out."

"Anything else, my liege?"

"Get those bums in the lab working on some sort of mind-wiping device, and maintain heavy surveillance of earth's activities, I need to know if they make any jumps in military power and the sort."

"Of course, I'll get them started on it right away," Esool bowed and exited the room, making his way to the laboratory within the station.

"Ah, didn't expect to see you so soon," one of the workers greeted Esool as he entered the area.

"I have word of a new project the master wants completed," Esool spoke to the worker in a low pitch.

"We've barely started on that arctic base he wanted down on earth, domesticating has been going well, and the reapers are seeing some progress too; but I don't see how we can fit another task into all of this."

"He wants a device that can wipe someones memory."

"I'm sure they have something like that on earth, but I suppose I'll see what I can do."

"Good, I shall check on your progress monthly to insure you are not slacking, I bid you farewell," Esool exited the laboratory almost as soon as he entered it. Esool continued throughout the station until he reached a large room with several hundred screens on one side of the wall, some displaying certain news stations, others camera feed from random streets and buildings. It was the moderation center of the station, where Zerstorung could spy on earth simply using small near undetectable cameras and random news feeds such as CNN, FOX, or BBC. Esool took a seat near the back of the room as it bustled with workers and soldiers maintaining the numerous screens.

Several hours later Emily woke up inside a dark cell, with her only company being the unconscious body of her brother, Miyoti. She moved around quietly in fear of what she had seen before she was taken away by the Hunter. A small glimmer of light came from the bars of the cell door as she listened in on a several faint voices outside.

"So how's the babysitting coming along?"

"It's a pretty easy post but I'd rather be working the monitors or something that lets me sit down on something other than the floor."

"Hear about the bosses new plan?"

"No, what is it, wait another seven or ten years?"

"He wants to take one of the children so he can pit them against each other for his own amusement, that and to insure neither of them go for him."

"How does he plan on pulling that off. and why doesn't he just have them killed?"

"Don't ask me, I just got word of it from one of the guys in the lab."

"What did they say?"

"Something about some mind-wiping device the boss wants finished."

"And the part about the kids?"

"Guard near the bosses office or throne room whatever you'd call it," Emily stopped listening as the two guards continued bantering about other sections of their work stations. She hardly knew what any of it meant, but only wanted to escape from it by sleeping through it. She lay her head down on the cold floor, knowing that the more she moved around the more the men outside might hear her, and went to sleep.

Back at the WPA the mercenaries were eager to test their new weapons, gathered in the lobby awaiting the okay from their superior. Melody sat in her office idling sifting through the drawers when the phone laid upon the desk began to ring, she quickly answered it.

"Hello?"

"It is good to hear from you since that awful incident, Melody," the voice on the other line was Juppé, who had managed to hold his position as prime minister for so long due to the WPA's reputation.

"I'm a tad busy right now, any other reason you called?"

"Just wanted to make sure you knew of that disappearance that happened not too long ago."

"What disappearance?"

"That young woman and her two little kids, it was on the news not too long ago and not a single trace of evidence was found other than signs of entry."

"What makes you think I'd know anything about it?"

"Seemed like something that perhaps Zerstorung might have been behind."

"I seriously doubt it, did you catch their names though?"

"I can't remember much but there was a boy and a girl, their last name was Takatzi or however you pronounce it," Melody knew what this meant, she froze for a few seconds before returning to the phone.

"Thanks for that, I'll be seeing you at our next conference," she hung up the phone and immediately made an announcement throughout the building using the intercom stationed in front of her. "Any and all activities scheduled for today have been canceled and have been rescheduled to the next available day, I would like the residents of the eighth floor to report to my office immediately, that is all."

Following the announcement the group stormed into Melody's office, quickly questioning her motives.

"What is the meaning of this? How can anything be more important than me shooting something!" The soldier barked upon entry, with the others following using their own complaints. Melody waited for the group to quiet down before speaking, and as soon as she was given the chance, began to tell them the news.

"Done? Okay, I've called you here because news just came in that Zerstorung has the only living members of the Takatzi family under his control, or at least that's what I'm assuming."

"What about his parents and that old cook?" The sniper interjected.

"Eh, I'm not counting them, I meant Miyoti's children."

"How is that even possible?" The medic inquired.

"My guess is as good as yours, but they're there so we have to treat them like we did Miyoti."

"You mean like how we would treat a soldier?" The heavy asked.

"I suppose, we would obviously have to train them and such, but we have to reclaim at least one of them from Zerstorung."

"A full scale attack would be suicide considering how massive that damn ship he has up there is," the soldier responded.

"I'll go alone, Zerstorung would never think of harming me."

"So then if you're doing it yourself why did you call us in here?" the demoman asked angrily.

"So that you know what's going on, now if you'll excuse me I have some business to take care of," Melody disappeared in a flash of light as the group waited, then slowly poured out of the office.

"What a waste of time, but at least it's something different for a change, perhaps teaching the little tyke how to shoot will be fun," the sniper thought aloud.

"I have work in the morning so you lads can go do whatever, I'm too drunk to stay awake any longer..." The demoman stumbled back into his room, slowly shutting the door behind him. The soldier pointed to the television and withdrew a gaming console, keeping the rest of the group entertained for quite some time.

Melody materialized in front of the entrance of Zerstorung's space-station, she was quickly greeted by one of the guards.

"The master has been expecting you, allow me to show you the way..." The guard motioned Melody to follow as he moved through the halls of the ship. Melody took the time to examine some of the happenings in the ship, mostly random projects spread about in chaos though being worked on ever so slightly. After several minutes of walking the guard approached a large titanium door, which he quickly opened with a key from his belt, immediately stepping aside to allow her passage.

"I knew it wouldn't be long before you showed up, sister," Zerstorung greeted her from across the room.

"If you're willing to make an agreement regarding the children you've captured, I won't have to take them by force," Melody chided.

"You read my mind, I will allow you to take the boy, in return we keep the girl, fair enough?"

"Fine, just send him to us whenever you get the chance," Melody said, not wanting to continue the conversation any long then she had to.

"He'll be on your doorstep by tomorrow morning, nice doing business with you," Zerstorung cackled as Melody vanished from the room. Zerstorung turned to Esool, who had entered the room only seconds ago.

"Did you want me to handle that, my liege?" Esool asked.

"Go ahead, I was going to do it myself but the less work I have to do the better," Esool nodded and made his way to the cells. The guard who stood near the cell door saluted Esool as he passed, quickly opening the door for him. As Esool entered the cell Miyoti was just getting up, Emily ready to greet him. Though this was cut short when Esool knocked Miyoti out once more with a swift hit to the head. Emily stared at Esool until he left the cell with Miyoti hunched on his shoulder, all she could do was reach her arms out in hopelessness as her brother slowly faded away into the ship along with Esool. The cell door was quickly shut behind him as he exited the station and prepared to deliver Miyoti to the WPA.

"I wonder how much longer I have to guard this brat..." the guard thought to himself, leaning near the door, as he watched Esool vanish from sight.

In Boston, Massachusetts, Douglas Fawkes prepared to leave his apartment for an encampment located in Atlanta, Georgia. All of his things were packed in a small suitcase, he removed his mask momentarily and quickly tied his hair into a bun so as to conceal it under the mask efficiently. He has had to do this since he would rather not be his own barber, and he refused to go to one due to his appearance. He had recently obtained the rank of second lieutenant, securing his position as an officer, and raising his reputation amongst the other soldiers. Rather than flying to his destination he took a bus, so as to avoid the high security of the airports, mostly so he could keep his identity secret. On the ride to Georgia he made sure to stay awake the entire time to watch his belongings. He occasionally peeked out the window to view the passing fields and houses, sometimes catching his reflection in the window and wondering to himself how this all happened.

The bus stopped in the middle of Atlanta, but several miles from the military encampment. Douglas decided not to head straight there, but rather check into a hotel for the night and then go, seeing as he had made sure to arrive a day before they would need his service. When night fell on the city he prepared for bed, though he slept with his mask on due to the insecurity he felt in the hotel. He would need this rest for the challenges he would face tomorrow.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

* * *

The sniper noticed someone at the door on the first floor while peering out the window, and saw that they left something then quickly disappeared. He couldn't make out what it was, so he decided to take the elevator down to investigate. Upon reaching the bottom floor he opened the front door to see a small child left face down on the ground with a note pinned to it's back. The sniper was not phased by this whatsoever and bent down to read the small print.

_"Our part of the deal is done, thank you for cooperating._

_P.S. If it isn't Melody who reads this take the boy to her."_

The sniper ripped the note off the boy's shirt and tossed the pin into the distance, then took the body and slumped it over his shoulder, making his way back into the building. As the sniper began his ascension to the eighth floor the others were gathered in the lobby, examining the weapons they had received.

"I wish they'd give me something to blow things up with instead of more of these swords and axes," the demoman said while brandishing his new axe.

"Maybe they'll prove useful at some point, you'll save some money on ammo that's for sure," the soldier remarked on the demoman's weapon while examining his own.

"It took me some time to realize I had to use my normal medicine gun with this new backpack or else it would simply work like my other one," the medic began charging the medicine gun by healing the heavy.

"After testing new ammo with Sasha, Doctor has come to conclusion that it simply corrodes through most metals allowing me to kill cowards who hide behind armor," the heavy spoke with his gun in hand.

"Ja, some sort of acid laced bullets, not sure how they prevent them from effecting the bullet," after the medic spoke the elevator door opened.

"Still staring at your toys eh? I've got some kid to deliver to the boss, maybe now we'll have something fun to do," the sniper turned away from the group after exiting the elevator and headed for Melody's office. The others continued to bicker about their weapons as the sniper entered the office. "This was on our doorstep, note said to bring it to you," the sniper set the body down on Melody's desk.

"Oh, this must be Miyoti," Melody said upon examining the child.

"Miyoti? As in that kid who used to work here after I kidnapped him?"

"No, this is his son, who I suppose was named after him."

"Son? How hell can that kid of had a child?"

"Your guess is as good as mine but it's here."

"So I guess that's the kid you were talking about before."

"Correct, though his sister is still in Zerstorung's custody..."

"At least you got one of them, and if I recall you said something about his family and what not being the only ones who can kill that bloke."

"Yes, but this time we have to be more careful with them, if we lose him we lose all hope of ending this constant attack."

"I don't think the guys would mind that."

"They wouldn't be able to fight forever, eventually Zerstorung would push us back enough to take complete control over every other portion of the globe."

"Alright so if this kid is our only hope, what are we waiting for?"

"We'll wait until he's twelve, then we will began preparing him for combat."

"So...that's...okay how old is the kid?"

"Esool told me they had been in kindergarten so I would guess four, but I think his birth certificate may still be in Pandora's house."

"Fuck that, let's just google it."

"Fine," Melody withdrew a laptop from under the desk and began a search for Miyoti's name, and turned up numerous results. The sniper looked over her shoulder at the screen.

"So, which one is him?"

"Let's narrow it down to country first."

"You know it would've been a good idea to have asked that wanker how old the kid was before taking off."

"Quiet, I think I got it," the two eyed the screen after finding the information they needed.

"Huh, says there he was born in 2000."

"How does that make any sense? She was still trying to kill him between 1996 and 2003."

"We'll never know, but what's done is done and we have his birthday," the sniper pointed at the screen, it displayed the date May 23rd, 2000.

"Okay, so that means in eight years we'll begin preparing him, mark that date somewhere," Melody closed the laptop as the sniper returned to the front of the desk.

"I'll go tell the guys about this, mark the date and what not, hope all this waiting is worth it..." the sniper left Melody's office and returned to the group, still arguing about their new found guns. The group was listening to the demoman, as he took his turn to talk.

"That's great and all that you guys know what yer fancy new tools do, but all I've got is a shiny new coat of paint on mine," the demoman exclaimed pointing to the axe's blade he was holding, not knowing it was Austrailum.

"Alright you blokes I've got a date for when we're going to be needed again," the sniper announced to the others.

"And that is?" They all queried.

"May 23rd, 2012."

"What? We have to wait eight god damn years to do jack shit?" The soldier was obviously furious with it.

"I was hoping not to wait more than last time, but now that we have date it will make it much easier," the heavy took it with stride, the demoman and the medic having similar reactions.

"I'm glad that Melody has decided on a date for once, now I know what to expect, and can plan accordingly..." the medic replied.

"Well it's not flying with me! I can't wait that damn long to kill something!"

"You will have to, soldier, you don't think we would like to return to the battlefield as well? We have spent all our careers as mercenaries, we don't simply give that up," the medic continued. "Melody is the only one who was hiring for such a job; we also have many privileges to go with this such as a free home, free food, and the fact we're kept at same age constantly..."

"Now that you put it that way I guess I can try to wait it out, so what have you guys been doing to pass the time?" The soldier quickly changed topics.

"The heavy works part time as an officer, the demoman works for the city demolitions crew, not sure about the sniper, as for myself I have been creating numerous medicines and testing them on willing people."

"I can answer that one, doc, I'd go hunting if there were some forest around here but since there ain't I take a walk around town, see the sights, and that fellow we met at the cafe a while back is quite informative," the sniper made his way across the room and into his own after he spoke.

The WPA remained quite inactive, only worried about the safety of their newest addition to the team. During this time the United States continued it's tech race against the WPA. Nearly every military base had received the prototype weaponry, now out of their testing stages and ready to be used. In the small time frame they had managed to create several advanced versions of previous weapons, all designed to operate all around better than their older counterparts. Though the standard issue weapons remained of the same type, they were built upon. After work had been finished on infantry weaponry all of the resources could be pooled into other projects, such as nuclear weapons or naval warfare.

Civilian life in the United States remained quite the same, almost no one knew these advances were being made. Due to this, soldiers could not speak of their work in public at risk of persecution. Boris took note of this when he was outside of his base and in a nearby city. It was a relatively empty town, with a low population of 378, but had some running businesses. It was deserted due to its out of place location; Boris made frequent trips to it to catch up on the world's news. He would almost always strike small conversations with the stand owners. Today is no exception, as Boris is running through his normal routine.

"So anything of interest happen this day?" Boris asked the woman at the newspaper stand.

"Not really, it's been pretty dull since the peace talks with North Korea and China," she replied.

"I'm sure something must be happening, I'll take a paper," Boris handed the woman 50 cents and received a paper in return, he packed it away and resumed the conversation.

"Like I said, nothing too important, but I look forward to seeing you tomorrow."

"Of course, I wish you luck," Boris made his way back to the base after getting the day's paper. As he entered the encampment he was waved in by the guards standing by the entrance. He knew almost every soldier in the base after being there for a couple weeks. Upon reaching his bunk he was greeted by one of the other soldiers.

"Same old same old, eh?"

"Pretty much, nothing of interest has happened since all this testing started," Boris replied to the soldier.

"Say, by chance did you ever go by the base in Versailles before it was sacked?"

"Never been close to that place, why do you ask?"

"I was stationed there before I got moved here, I remember some guy who wore his gas-mask all the time kind of like you usually do."

"What was so special about him?"

"One of the other soldiers there told me he saw the guy without the mask on the ship to Versailles, apparently he looks like some sort of monster."

"Weird, but I suppose I'll never see this man you speak of."

"I was just hoping for some sort of confirmation on that story, I honestly find it hard to believe."

"I know nothing of it so can't help you there," Boris withdrew a ball of yarn two needles from his pack as he finished talking.

"Got that from the town nearby?"

"Yeah, I decided to take up knitting in my spare time, It's not that hard once you get the gist of it," Boris spoke whilst stitching together the yarn.

"Sure gives the wrong impression with the other guys, like in a creepy way."

"Reminds me of when I was young, I always looked up to my parents who worked at RED back when it was still operative. No one really knew them due to their uniforms restricting their ability to communicate, that combined with their profession being pyromaniacs made them the most feared members there."

"So you mean that like them you're feared for your strange traits?"

"That's one way to put it, but yes, since I'm usually in a uniform that completely covers my body no one really hears me clearly or gets a good idea of what I'm like. And the fact that I burn things as my duty."

"You know it's boring around here when you have to take up knitting."

"Tell me about it, makes me wonder how the WPA is going to take this peace-time."

"They've waited for years for conflict, I'm sure this will be no different for them."

"You're right, but we don't know how long this will last until that madman decides to roll in again," Boris continued his knitting as the other soldier laid down in a bunk nearby as the sun began to set, Boris looked outside for a brief moment while he could see both the sun and now crescent moon.

In an unknown area the engineer sat idly on a couch watching a medium sized television screen within his home. The house had only one floor but had numerous rooms in it. The engineer got up from his seat and trekked across the house to a closet, in which he stored a large pile of scrap metal, which he used for building. This reminded him to do something, he withdrew a newspaper from a nearby shelf and scanned it thoroughly, the newspaper was The New York Times, though it was several days old. He returned to the couch and continued reading it, occasionally peering out the nearby window out into the small town and the full moon hovering in the sky.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

* * *

The years passed by slowly since Zerstorung's invasion of Russia and Germany, though now it was 2009, three years before the WPA would start training their newest recruit. The United States had continued their technological advances, though unlike other nations who focused away from military power, they continued to build upon theirs, waiting for the day Zerstorung would return. Since the attacks crime in most countries had declined with zero-tolerance policies being adapted by a majority of the nations.

Zerstorung had brought the world together in being against him, though he had a plan, either he would defeat them in battle or lose what power he had over them. Since being aided by the unknown malevolent creature known to most of Zerstorung's soldiers and the WPA's as "The Summoner"; Zerstorung has had the dinosaurs incorporated into his military. So far they had raptors trained as attack-dogs used by soldiers, and were working on taming the larger ones spawned.

One of Zerstorung's own projects were the "Reapers", after several years of work its design had been perfected. They were made entirely of steel, and a skeletal frame used for the nodes wired through all of it's body parts to be controlled by a core placed inside it's skull. The core used to control it acted as a brain, every Reaper created would have a random personality that is undecidable by the creator. It used a large axe with a sharp edge in between the blades in the event slicing isn't an option. The Reaper stands 9 feet tall and possesses enough strength to snap a man in half. They are controlled through the use of a remote operating area in Zerstorung's Arctic base that is still under construction. The Reapers are quite difficult to manufacture so they are rarely used in large-scale battle. In due time the WPA and U.S. forces will have to fight their fair share of these monstrosities.

At the WPA the soldier was sifting through channels on the television while the medic waited nearby, sitting idly in a recliner watching the soldier continuously search the channels.

"Nothing good on today, I hate having to surf through one hundred god damn channels to find something decent," the soldier muttered as he continued mashing the directional pad on the remote. Every channel he went through a small portion of what was on could be heard and seen before it switching to the next one.

"Maybe we should invest in a guide?" The medic asked the soldier.

"Only channel we usually watch is the news but since we have to babysit that kid for three more years we get to enjoy his kiddie crap, so a guide isn't really necessary," while the soldier was flipping randomly through channels something caught the medic's eye, something he thought he had seen before.

"Soldier, stop, go back to the channel you were on a few seconds ago."

"Which one?"

"Just go slowly and I'll tell you when to stop," the soldier slowly went back through the list of channels, looking to the medic every time he switched to confirm if it was the right one. "Stop here," the soldier hit the pause button on the remote.

"What the hell am I looking at?" The channel the soldier had stopped on was airing the newest episode of "Pokemon".

"Soldier, un-pause it, let it play through for a couple minutes," the soldier reluctantly hit the "Play" button and watched.

"Whoa, I didn't think we had this channel, the hell you wankers watching this for?" The sniper walked through the lobby as the medic glared intently at the screen, the soldier waiting for it to be over.

"Don't ask me-"

"Be quiet, dummkopf!" The medic cut the soldier off as he returned to the screen. The sniper and soldier stood in silence. "Okay pause it right here, soldier."

"Right," the soldier hastily hit the pause button on the remote as the medic ran to his room to retrieve something.

"What's his problem?" the sniper inquired.

"Hell if I know," the soldier replied as the medic returned with several pieces of paper, soon withdrawing a picture and comparing it to the screen.

"Could it be?"

"Could it be what? Explain this shit to us, doc!" the soldier barked at the medic.

"This picture I got many years ago from the man who dropped the spy here, and this one that was drawn by the Irish man we met at the cafe both match the person in that childish show," the soldier took a close look at the screen, hit play, then listened to a few seconds of dialog.

"Sweet Jesus this hurts my ears, is _this_ what you turned the spy into?"

"How did you know I was the- oh right the obvious trail, anyways I believe we may have a new lead...you can turn that off now, soldier," the soldier quickly hit the pause button again.

"Hand me the remote, I'll check what it says about this silly show," the soldier passed the sniper the remote, and the sniper pressed the "Info" button on the remote to pull up a short description of the program. "Let's see, blah blah blah, pokemon this pokemon that, alright according to the info of it this particular episode revolves around some broad named Dawn."

"Dawn was the name that the spy said was his, in both the engineer's log and my previous research."

"Doc, it doesn't take rocket science to piece this all together, both yours and Trekkie's papers are dated _before_ this show was created, which to my understanding from that info thing was this year, meaning that it's no coincidence that all of this information matches up," the soldier hastily replied.

"So you're saying that there is some way of passage between that fictional world and ours?"

"I can't be sure about that, but the spy might still be in that place."

"Nah, he's here for sure, I spoke to him awhile back before that base in Versailles was sacked."

"So sniper, what's your theory then?"

"Medic made the spy like that, but according to his logs when he was caring for him he was still the little girl, some time later he was returned to his old body which now looks like the little girl's due to some wanker's interference."

"I was paid due to the procedure, nothing I won't do for a quick buck," the medic chuckled as the sniper prepared to continue.

"It can be assumed the spy was so damn ashamed of what he looked like he constantly hid behind that mask of his, like Collin, the Irish bloke we helped out on our way to Berlin back in 03', said he usually did."

"You still keep in touch with him, sniper?" the soldier queried.

"He keeps me informed of what the buggers in the U.S. army are cooking up; anyways this leads us to one thing, the spy must have seen that place when he was switched with that little girl, if we can find him again and talk to him about it we may figure out how this went down."

"Wait wait wait, I think we may want to do research on this girl before jumping to conclusions," the medic argued.

"Good point, anyone got a computer so we can look this up?"

"Doc's got one, lets check there," the sniper motioned the three into the medic's room where he had a desktop set up nearby.

"Good thing I already have it on."

"Alright doc just go to Google and type in...huh, how about "dawn pokemon" and make sure it's not image search, I don't need to break out the bleach today," the medic typed in the search terms and waited for the results, the first hit was a link to Pokemon-fan wiki, Bulbapedia, the medic clicked it and skimmed through the page.

"Let me read through the engineer's log, he mentions a few things that may prove useful," the medic opened the worn log and looked through, noting what it said about the engineer's interrogation of the spy. "Matches up as far as I'm concerned, this says that the Fraulein is ten, as does the page we are on."

"Alright that answers that question, now we have to go find that spy and see what he knows about this mess," the sniper walked away from the computer screen as he spoke.

"You know, this might mean that's where Trekkie is!" the soldier proclaimed.

"Where? In that silly little place we saw in that stupid show?"

"Unfortunately I think so, the engineer's teleporter sent the spy there so it must have sent him there too!"

"Then why didn't the engineer get put in some random bloke's body?"

"Because when the spy went through the teleporter was destroyed in the process."

"How do we know the same didn't happen to the engineer?"

"We don't but we can safely assume since no one saw him again that he went in successfully."

"Good point, we were on his team, we would have seen his body lying around like the spy's."

"And we didn't so he must be in that place, god if only he left behind that teleporter we could find the poor bastard and bring him back home."

"I'm sure he's doing fine, nothing in that place he couldn't tear a new one."

"Enough talk, now we go on a manhunt for the spy," the medic rose from the computer and motioned the two out of the room.

"Are we taking the heavy and demoman? We might need them ya know," the sniper asked.

"Nien, the demoman is passed out and the heavy is still asleep, I don't wish to disturb them."

"How considerate, want me to bring this up to the boss?"

"We will be waiting by your van, I'm sure she'll allow us to go," the medic and soldier boarded the elevator while the sniper entered Melody's office, where he saw Miyoti Jr. sitting on the desk.

"Boss, we were gonna go hunt down the spy, just letting you know as always despite the fact I already know you don't give two shits."

"Who's going?" Melody replied from the distance as she entered from the other side of the room.

"Me, doc, and the soldier."

"Go ahead, I can take Miyoti to school today I suppose," the sniper had the task of driving the child to school every morning, considering he was the only one with a car and the fact he was the earliest to awake.

"Sounds good, you plan on walking there?"

"No, I've got my own method of transportation," the sniper nodded and headed out the door he came in from, boarded the elevator, and made his way down to the ground floor.

"Nice day to go out, don't you agree, soldier?" The medic stared into the clouds as it lightly sprinkled around them.

"Not my idea of a nice day but if you say so," the two waited by the camper van, the soldier leaning against it while the medic stood in the light rain.

"Alright blokes I'm here, just hop in the back so there's no argument over who rides shotgun," the two climbed into the back of the van as the sniper started the van and prepared to pull out of the WPA's lot.

"Where are we going first?" the soldier asked.

"First we're stopping by Collin's apartment, see what he knows about the spy's location, that will get us started on the right path."

"Hopefully he has more information about him then simply what troop he was in or the base he was assigned six years ago," the medic muttered.

"So do I, if he's a dead end we're fucked," the sniper merged onto the main road and made his way towards the apartment located several blocks away, taking the time to peer out the window at the sites of Paris.

"You know doc you were kind of right, France sure does look nice when it's raining..." the soldier made an observation as he stared out the back window of the van moving through the streets.

"Quite nice isn't it? Makes most lights stay on a tad longer when it rains this early."

"Don't get too comfortable we're almost there, just a tad longer," the sniper said while turning onto a small street and preparing to park on the side of it.

"So you're sure this guy will have information on the spy?"

"Positive, he knows a good deal about what they're up to in the states," the sniper parked the camper van and exited it, the medic and soldier soon following. "Alright, follow me," the sniper walked towards the apartment in between the stores and entered it, knowing exactly which one to go to. The medic and soldier soon following.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

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Collin had recently awoken, and had prepared a small breakfast consisting of a baguette and cup of coffee. In his apartment he had a medium-sized television on which he was currently watching the news when he heard a knock on the door. He left his seat to go answer it, peering through the peephole in the door before opening it.

"What brings the lot of you here?" He asked after opening the door to reveal the sniper, soldier, and medic.

"We were looking to ask you a few questions," the sniper replied.

"Sure, come on in if you want," the three entered the apartment as Collin closed the door behind them.

"Not a bad place you got here..." the soldier said whilst eying the furniture.

"Decent pay from the military, surprising considering how many soldiers they've been trying to recruit."

"That's great and all, but we came here looking for answers about our friend,' the sniper interjected.

"Oh, you mean the spy fellow, right?"

"Yes, we're trying to figure out where he might be, we've got some questions to ask him."

"Chances are he's in the states, I haven't been keeping track of him since I was at Versailles."

"We need a name, any idea how we could find that out?"

"I'm sure they keep track of who was stationed where, just find out who was sent to Versailles in 2003, go through everyone on the list, and you'll find your man."

"Anything else?"

"Sorry but that's all I know, best head over there if you want to dig deeper," the sniper thanked Collin for what information he had received and followed the medic and soldier out the nearby door. The three quickly made their way through the apartment and back down to the camper van.

"So do you actually want to go all the way to America for this?" the soldier asked the sniper.

"Maybe, I'll have to mull it over for a bit before making that decision."

"If we are going I advise we research this list of people using the computer, so as to save time," the medic suggested.

"Hell, why don't we just scan through the list of people then use it again to single out our man?" the soldier backed up the medic's statement.

"Considering his looks are quite a giveaway we just find the one man without a face; now lets get out of the damn rain," the sniper said as he motioned the two into the back of the van, preparing to leave. The sniper backed out of his parking spot and merged onto the nearby road, making his way back to the headquarters.

"Finding that list of people may be pretty difficult if we don't know where to look."

"We just type some information on Google and it should do the rest, doc," the sniper replied.

"I hope it's that easy, I don't want to spend all day on a wild goose chase."

"If we can't find anything relevant heading to the states may be our only option," the sniper neared the WPA after several minutes of driving, directing the others to exit the van as quickly as they had entered it. The three entered the building and boarded the elevator, slowly making their way back to the eighth floor. While they waited, Tavish and the heavy were engaged in conversation in the lobby.

"Three more years and we'll be doing something in this place for once," Tavish said.

"Though there is no guarantee that we will be fighting on that day."

"It'll be something different that's all I care about, this is getting pretty old."

"That I can attest to, we still do not know when we can fight once more, only when we get to train little baby into man."

"Pretty much, that will be a real pain in the ass I can imagine," as the two carried on with their conversation the three exited the elevator, all making a straight path to the medic's office, before Tavish could get a word in they were out of sight. "I wonder what their problem is."

"I do not know, perhaps I will talk to doctor later and find out."

"You do that, I got a bad feeling they're up to something that will end up involving us."

The medic started the computer again while the soldier sifted through the papers on the medic's desk, the sniper leaning against a nearby file cabinet while waiting for the medic.

"Say doc, I never really read your papers through, you really fucked him up," the soldier said, referring to the medic's procedure on the spy.

"I did what I was told to do, nothing more, I was paid by the man who delivered him to me after I was finished."

"How much?"

"About fifty-thousand francs, not sure what that converts into now."

"Oh right, euros came around just after that fellow attacked Germany for the first time."

"Doc, how much longer is that damn thing going to take?" the sniper interrupted the two's conversation.

"Give me a minute, I'm still waiting for the programs to finish running until I can start a search."

"I'll just keep thinking of places to search then."

"Sniper, any ideas come to mind?" the soldier asked.

"Not really, I'd say type some search in Google and pray for a good result."

"Alright let's gather what information we have about the spy, considering we never really did know anything about him even when he worked with him other than his job..."

"That base he used to work at, in Versailles, what he looks like, and that's about it."

"If all else fails we could put up signs everywhere in the states, reward and such."

"Considering who he looks like I highly doubt anyone would take us seriously," the medic said behind the computer.

"Almost forgot about that, people would think we're crazy..."

"Not like you aren't, soldier."

"Very funny, anyways doc hows the computer coming along?"

"Loaded, I've been waiting for one of you to suggest something to type in."

"Now that I think about it I doubt they'd release that kind of information."

"You mean who is in what base?"

"Yeah, that has to be confidential."

"It always ends like this, we get on a good trail of evidence and then we are stopped dead in our tracks, it makes me wonder why I even try to crack this case," the medic muttered.

"I feel ya, doc, but there must be something we can do to track him down."

"Well sniper we could just head to the states and ask around, hell if I recall the scout lives down there," the soldier replied.

"Wasn't he with BLU though?"

"Doesn't matter, we aren't fighting anymore so it shouldn't make too much of a difference, right?"

"I see what you mean, but we have no idea where the little hooligan is."

"It's blatantly obvious that he's from Boston, you can tell by the brat's accent."

"Oh right, you'd know cause you're American."

"Damn straight; doc, change of plans, we're getting the first flight we can to the United States of America!" the soldier boasted. Tavish entered the room upon hearing this.

"I knew it, you're going to drag me and heavy along too aren't ya?" Tavish asked with a hint of anger.

"Probably, we need every man we can get and Melody seems like a stay-at-home mom anyways," the sniper replied.

"At least give me some time to get ready, tomorrow at the earliest, though maybe a bit earlier since like I've been saying nothings happening in this place," Tavish left the room, leaving the three to discuss their plans.

"So now you want to go to America to hunt him down?" the medic asked the two.

"Scout is probably going to be our best lead on the spy, considering his affair with his mum and all," the sniper answered the medic quickly.

"Of course, so you want me to get tickets while I'm still on the computer?"

"Yeah book em as early as possible, I can't rest until we find that bastard and learn why the hell that shit happened..." the soldier pointed towards the computer. "I'd suggest Air France, airport must be around here somewhere considering it's the damn capital."

"I'll work on the tickets for us, five obviously, you two can go out into the lobby until I am done."

"Alright doc, we'll pack our things, and tell demoman to get his shit in order too," the soldier said as he left the room, the sniper soon following.

"Sniper, soldier, I heard from demoman that we are going on trip?" The heavy addressed the two as they exited the medic's office.

"We are, soon as we get the tickets we're out of here so pack up whatever you need," the sniper said to the heavy before turning to his own room to prepare, the soldier doing the same.

"Not much notice, but I do not need much, just Sasha and my sandwich," the heavy held up his sandwich, which no matter how much he ate it never seemed to deplete.

"I never really understood how that thing worked, but I guess since Mann co. made it it's magic," Tavish said.

"Reminds me of engineer's toys, they did so many things and seemed so easy to make."

"Sort of a combination of that man's intellect and the craftsmanship of that company."

"Demoman, don't you need to prepare your things?"

"What? They're going today? I thought I told them to wait, oh hell, they wouldn't listen to me anyways."

"Doctor is working on getting tickets for plane, so I suggest you get your things."

"Aye, I'll just pack some essentials and my weapons, wait, hold on a moment, how are we going to get our weapons onto the plane?"

"We may have to take some sort of private craft then, I should tell doctor before he makes plans," The heavy got up to go tell the medic, but as he was about to the medic exited his office.

"Ah, heavy, where is the sniper and soldier?"

"In their rooms, preparing for the trip."

"I could not get any flights today, tomorrow, or even this week."

"That is not good, how we will get to the place we are going?" the heavy forgot what he was going to tell the medic.

"In any case, we will have to delay this trip..."

"I think I can help you guys," Melody had walked into the lobby unnoticed due to their conversation. "I can simply teleport the five of you into some random alleyway in Boston, then summon you back whenever you give me a call."

"Wait, if you can simply teleport anyone from place to place why can we not teleport into battle or simply use it as a faster method of transportation?" The medic asked.

"It's not that simple, I can only teleport the lot of you and myself, and it takes a good deal of time and energy on my behalf."

"I'll go inform the sniper and soldier about this, then we can be on our way..." The medic walked away and alerted the two. "You do not need to pack anything, we are simply teleporting there!"

"How? Trekkie is long gone!" The soldier inquired.

"We aren't using the engineer's tools, Melody can apparently do it for us."

"If that broad could do that why the bloody hell haven't we been using it?" The sniper exclaimed.

"She said it took a lot of time and a good deal of her energy."

"Whatever, as long as I don't have to pack anything and we get there quick," the sniper exited his room and stopped what packing he had done at the same time as the soldier.

"Are the lot of you ready to go?"

"Dah."

"Ja."

"Yeah."

"Hell yeah!"

"Aye," with all five of their responses Melody closed her eyes and a strong white aura filled the room, it slowly got harder and harder to see until everything vanished into a white abyss. A few moments later all five of them dropped head first into the ground, all of them getting up quickly and taking a good look around.

"Yeah I'll place a good bet that we're in the right spot, if any of you are cautious about the whole mess just go look for a newspaper," the soldier stated nonchalantly after getting up, motioning the rest to follow him. "Also, word of advice, keep your damn weapons withdrawn," the group followed the soldier through the streets of Boston, though they had no idea where to start their search for the scout.

"I just now realized that without the scout's name we're just as lost at finding him as we are the spy!" the sniper said.

"Oh I'm sure that since we got it narrowed down to a city we'll find him with ease," the soldier said to reassure the sniper.

The five wandered the streets for only a few minutes, when Tavish decided to get a paper.

"Look we'd have found the little one by now, I'm getting a paper to make sure we ain't looking in the wrong spot," Tavish looked around for a stand when he saw the paper boy making his runs heading towards them. "Hey lad, this is Boston isn't it?"

"Yeah, where do you think you are pal?"

"Just asking."

"Hey wait, the lot of you look pretty familiar, by chance did you work for BLU back in 64'?"

"Nah, we were work-" the demoman stopped after he realized what the paper-boy had said. "You must be the man we're looking for."

"What makes you think that?"

"Scout, come on, don't play stupid with us, you can't tell me you can't recognize any of us," the sniper interjected.

"Oh yeah, you guys were all on RED, no wonder I don't remember you all that well, but last I checked you weren't no different from the dolts on my team."

"How is it that you're still so fit after near 60 damn years?"

"To be honest I wondered that sometimes, goes to show what some exercise can do ya!"

"Yeah sure, anyways you might want to take us to yer mum, we got some questions for the two of ya."

"Oh? Like what?"

"About the spy."

"Spy? That creep? I haven't seen him show his rat-face since RED and BLU disbanded."

"Alright just follow us around town, we'll get this straightened out," the scout joined the group as they continued to wander throughout the town in search for leads on the location of the spy, hoping that with finding him they could solve the mystery that has been haunting the medic for thirteen years.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

* * *

The search for the spy continued for quite some time, while the WPA mercenaries worked tirelessly alongside their newest companion, the scout, as they relentless hunted for clues to the spy's whereabouts. Their search went on for hours while they scanned the town with no results.

"Hey, you seen a guy with a gas-mask on around here?" the sniper asked a random pedestrian.

"Nope, sorry."

"Damn, I have a feeling that even with the scout back we ain't got a chance in hell of finding the spy here."

"Sniper, not until we've searched every damn nook and crannie of this place can we say he isn't here," the soldier said.

"If he isn't here then we'd have to do this procedure for every damn city in the states, that would take years!"

"I'm sure he'll turn up soon, we start here and then move on with whatever we find until we get a good lead on him."

"We search this city and if we can't find him we're probably at a dead end," the scout said.

"Alright, so if we're going to scan this whole city we should probably split up into groups," the sniper suggested.

"I suppose doc and the heavy can one way, me and the sniper will go another, and you and the demoman go whatever way we aren't," the soldier picked out the groups quickly, the others hastily agreed and went their separate ways into the city.

The scout and Tavish made their way toward an apartment complex to start their search.

"Okay, so we walk in, go door to door, and see what we find, got it?" the scout told Tavish his plan.

"So what's our cover?"

"Huh, well we could pretend we're Jehovah's Witnesses."

"We don't have any pamphlets or any knowledge of their religion."

"Normally the "Good word" gets them to slam the door so no need to go any further."

"Fine fine, you take the ones the to left, I'll go right," Tavish and the scout headed in opposite directions in the complex, while the other groups started their respective searches.

The medic and heavy had began their hunt in a busy marketplace.

"Just walk around, maybe we'll get lucky and find him in the crowd at random like the scout," the medic told the heavy who was following closely.

"I do not think relying on luck alone will help us find the spy, but I am willing to try," the heavy and medic scoured the area, making small talk but keeping alert.

The sniper and soldier had chosen the streets to search, hoping to find the spy walking amongst the other pedestrians.

"I doubt the spy is going to be as easy to find as the scout, he sure as hell ain't going to approach us," the sniper said to the soldier while the maneuvered through the large crowds moving on the sidewalk.

"The spy will stick out like a green thumb considering his constant attempts to veil himself."

"True, it's just that we might miss him with all these people moving past us so quickly."

"Maybe we should have driven through."

"Nah, if we drove we could easily miss our chance at confronting him considering we can't just pull over like in France, since a lot more cars move through here, that and my van is still back there."

"I can see this taking all day, if we can't find the spy before nightfall we need to contact the others, find some place to stay, and then resume the search the next day."

"Duly noted, now lets keep our eyes peeled for that slippery rat."

While the six searched through the city of Boston for the whereabouts of the spy, elsewhere in the United States Boris continued his service in the military, everyone forgetting his past crimes after the years had gone by. He had been moved from base to base around the country like many other soldiers were due to specifications of each base. The differences of each base was what weapons were sent for testing, this was because of the limited supply of prototypes, as even distribution was impossible. The weapons weren't the only things being tested, soldiers were scored on their skill with certain types of weaponry, so as to boost the overall proficiency of soldiers by assigning their load-out based on specialties.

After cycling through each base that had been testing the prototypes Boris had been assigned to use a flamethrower and shotgun, much like his parents who fought for RED. Almost every soldier received frag and flash-bang grenades, an M9 pistol, and a tactical knife as part of their load-out. Boris had arrived at his final destination, Atlanta, Georgia, within a military base set there. There he met the man in charge of the base, Lieutenant Fawkes.

"So, you're the lieutenant, right?" Boris inquired Fawkes.

"I am," Fawkes paused, "You know, I've heard much about you and what you did during the war in 03'."

"Casualties weren't as high as I thought they would be."

"Thankfully, but despite the millions of people you put at risk I'm glad to have you on our side."

"If they had taken lives it would've made us even after the blood Zerstorung had spilled in my country."

"Oh I know, sad that we couldn't help Russia, but with that blitz he pulled off we had no time to react, we almost lost our foothold in Europe in a day."

"But those people who died that day did not die in vain, for we later managed to push Zerstorung out with a counter-attack launched by my former alliance, The Black Hand."

"Heard those were the ones who managed to the get launch-codes to send those missiles into Germany."

"I was the only one left alive in the aftermath of the struggle to get to the terminal where I launched said missiles."

"Back then I was in some base we had in Versailles around the time Zerstorung started his attack, I managed to get to the border by myself to help what forces we had left holding him back after the base was sacked."

"Alright, enough of the war, how has life been treating you?"

"Nothing but military work, I don't normally associate myself with very many people, but you seem like someone I can trust."

"Oh? Not very social, eh?"

"Not since...well...it's a long story."

"Do tell."

Fawkes looked around suspiciously before talking again, "Perhaps later, just meet me in my office at 2200 hours."

"Will do," Boris nodded as he spoke, soon walking off into the base with Fawkes heading in as well. Boris found his bunk and unpacked his belonging, soon being greeted by another soldier.

"Heard you chatting it up with Fawkes, you two sure do get along well, and I can see why," the man said.

"That reminds me, I never did ask his name, I suppose that answers it."

"Yeah, well hell if I know his first name, guy is pretty shady for being a man in uniform."

"I'm sure he has his reasons."

"I don't really care that much, piss easy job when there abso-fucking-lutely nothing going on."

"You never know, Zerstorung was thought to be gone the first time he attacked, he came back, and could very well return any moment."

"Bastard is playing with us, he knows he can screw us over with the snap of a finger, he just wants to draw this out for his own sick pleasure."

"You're probably right considering how quickly he can take territory from us, but that will hopefully change with these advances we have been making over the past few years."

"I hope so," the soldier walked off while Boris finished unpacking.

Back in Boston, The scout had visited room after room hoping to find the spy, with Tavish on the other side of the apartment doing the same. He decided to knock on one last door, and got no answer. He knocked again and waited for several minutes before realizing the door was unlocked, he then opened the door in curiosity and walked inside. His eyes were drawn to a picture sitting atop a dresser nearby the bed in the room, he bent down to get a good look at it, soon realizing what it was, a picture of the spy holding hands with his mother. He began searching the room for any clues as to who owned it, but found nothing. Tavish made his way back down through the hallway towards the room the scout was in, the scout walked outside of the room to greet him.

"Yo, demoman, think I found something that might help our case," the scout said, motioning Tavish into the empty room.

"I don't see anything special about this place, what are you on about?" Tavish said upon walking into the room.

"This right here," the scout lifted the picture from the the dresser and showed it to Tavish.

"And this is?"

"This picture is pretty old, but I remember it quite well, it's the spy and my ma from a while back."

"So, that means this place belongs to the spy?"

"Exactly, now all we have to do is ask who rented this place out and we'll have our man!"

"I'll phone the sniper about this, I'm pretty sure he's the one in charge as always," Tavish withdrew a cellphone and dialed, the sniper picking up his own phone.

"Demoman, what is it?"

"We found the spy's apartment."

"What?" the sniper exclaimed.

"Aye, apparently it's his because of this old photo of the scout's mum and the spy together."

"Alright, I assume you've already made plans to find out who owns it, right?"

"We have, you can tell the doc and heavy that we've got a lead, just meet up where we popped up at when we first got here," Tavish hung up the phone and followed the scout towards the reception desk. The scout queried the receptionist about the owner of the room, while Tavish waited outside the complex.

"Okay, I got a name," The scout walked outside nonchalantly after receiving the information.

"And it is?" Tavish asked.

"Douglas Fawkes."

"So the spy's name is Douglas Fawkes?"

"Doubt it, knowing him he probably changed his name when he moved here."

"Still, we can look that name up and see what we get on him."

"Now there's the matter of finding the others."

"I told the sniper that we'd be at the alleyway we landed in so just follow me."

"Landed?"

"Long story, I'll explain to ye on the way there," Tavish proceeded to explain in detail his current job at the WPA and his boss, Melody. While they made their way to the meeting place, the sniper had called the medic and heavy to deliver the news.

"Doc, we got a name," the sniper said over the phone.

"Ja? What is it?"

"Demoman is gonna tell us once we meet up where we arrived in this place."

"So you want me and heavy to meet you there?"

"Yeah, we'll be there waiting for you two," the sniper hung up, the medic then turned to the heavy.

"The sniper wants us to return to the place we arrived at."

"That alley, right, doctor?"

"That's the place, apparently the demoman got a name for us, perhaps this search will end sooner than I thought."

"Let us hope it is not a false clue."

"It's better than no lead at all."

"True, now let us go, it may take some time to move through the crowd," the heavy led the way back towards the alley with the medic by his side.

Several minutes later all three parties had arrived at their destination, the alleyway, soon exchanging information about what they had found, most importantly Tavish and the scout described what they had found.

"So the spy was here?" The sniper asked after the scout had finished.

"I guess so, no one else could have had that picture other than him," the scout answered.

"Do we search his name now, or should we ask around to see if anyone knows him?" The medic said.

"I think we should split into two groups this time, one searches the web, other asks around town," the soldier suggested.

"Scouts going to be the one searching town that's for sure, he knows the place like the back of his hand I'd assume," the sniper said.

"Alright, then it's me, demoman, and...how about you soldier?"

"Fine, that leaves you three to scour the internet," the soldier replied, the six soon forming the new groups and heading off once more into the city of Boston.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

* * *

The time was 9:59, Douglas eagerly awaited his visitor as he eyed the door, Boris soon entering through it.

"So you wanted me to come around now, right?"

"A minute early but that's fine, take a seat," Fawkes pointed at the chair sitting in front of his desk, Boris soon taking his seat.

"You were going to tell me something, no?"

"It might take awhile for me to go through all of it so try not to interrupt," Boris nodded as Fawkes prepared to tell his story. He spoke of the incident that caused his altered appearance, though he had much more to say than what the WPA had unraveled.

"After I went through that buggy teleporter I woke up in this strange room, nothing like I had seen. One of the first things I did was look out the window, and when I did I thought I was tripping something. I saw all sorts of crazy things running around out there, but my memory isn't that good, so I only remember one or two of the creatures. Though they all seemed to resemble animals that we have here, though with a lot of extra features," Fawkes paused. "But enough about those things; I averted my gaze from the window to examine the area I had wound up in, looking for some way out or an indication as to how or why I was there. Unfortunately I found nothing of the sort, though while I was searching the dresser I noticed a mirror perched on top of it," at that moment Fawkes removed his gas mask, before continuing to speak. "When I looked into it I saw_ this_," He pointed to his now uncovered face. "Needless to say I didn't know what the hell was going on, though considering my job was looking like other people it wasn't that much of a change, though I wasn't used to seeing myself as what the others saw me as," Fawkes was referring to his days in RED, in which his disguises only fooled his enemies, and to him and his allies it seemed as if he was simply wearing a silly cardboard mask. "My search soon turned up a postcard with three little creatures on it, all the text on it in Japanese, I never figured out what they meant, considering I don't remember exactly what the symbols were. After finding the postcard I heard a voice call out to me, addressing me as "Dawn", leading me to assume that's the role I was to play. It wasn't easy, nor was it hard to fit the role. The only things that complicated it was my lack of knowledge of, well, anything in that place. I was forced to converse with this woman whom I assumed to be "Dawn"'s mother. I managed to get the information I needed quite easily off of her, allowing me to play the role flawlessly. From what I recall I had to leave home and pick up one of those three creatures I mentioned previously." Fawkes paused again. "Anyways, one thing to lead another and I had found the engineer in a house not too far from the one I had departed. He explained to me what had happened with the teleporter, evidently due to some malfunction the teleporter somehow linked to an alternate universe rather than its proper exit. Not even he knew how it did it, but he assumed it was due to the technology they had been tampering with so early, and their attempts to advance it even further. After some talking he told me he could replicate the destruction of the teleporter while I went through it to send me back home, and he would take care of everything else. I trusted him, and went through the teleporter, soon awakening in front of the imposing WPA building, looking exactly the same as I had before," Fawkes finished, giving Boris the signal he could talk once more.

"So did you catch the name of the place you were sent to?"

"I couldn't exactly read the Japanese font, so I never bothered to figure that out."

"Did the engineer know?"

"Never asked, so I don't know."

"Ah; I know the engineer as he was a friend of my parents back in the day."

"Well if I ever want to fix this, I'll probably have to pay him another visit."

"Oh? And how would you plan on returning to this strange world?"

"I'm sure an opportunity will arise at some point, for now I can only wait."

"So, you chose the military to conceal your secrets?"

"Yes, and I've gotten quite accustomed to my new name, Douglas Fawkes."

"Not bad, though I suppose we'll never know your real one, eh?"

"That's one piece of information I'll take to my grave."

"Of course, now that you mention it I'm not even sure what my last name is, my parents never really brought it up, nor was it mentioned in any documents."

"Just Boris cuts it, I was never really one to inquire about the Pyro back in the day."

"No one was, though I don't tend to dwell on it too much," the two stood quiet for a few moments, Fawkes eying his wristwatch monitoring the time.

"It's getting pretty late, why don't you go ahead and get some rest, wake up is at 0500 as usual."

"Will do, sir," Boris got up from the seat and headed out the office, Fawkes soon preparing for bed as well.

Away from the military base in Georgia, the scout, soldier, and the demoman had set off into the city of Boston in search of the spy, or as they now knew him, Douglas Fawkes. The three wandered the streets inquiring everyone about the name they had found, and turned up no results.

"We've been at this for, what, two, three hours now? Still nothing!" The scout exclaimed.

"Maybe the other guys are having more luck finding him on the internet," the soldier said.

"They probably are, which is why I suggest we just walk around and wait it out, then say we've been working non-stop, considering they're making more progress then we ever could out here," the demoman suggested.

"Beats asking a bunch of bozos about some guy they've probably never heard of," the scout said as the three began walking aimlessly through the streets with their goal set aside, resting the fate of the search in the hands of the opposite group.

While the other group wandered the city, the sniper, medic, and heavy were hard at work searching through every available service on the web.

"I think we've checked just about everything now, nothing whatsoever," the sniper said, clicking the mouse to navigate through random pages.

"Maybe he managed to keep most of his information, other than that apartment, a secret," the medic said.

"Knowing the spy he wouldn't have a hard time doing that, might have to call this off..."

"We have spent too much time on this to simply give up, but I can see why you would want to."

"Look, we have no definite leads on him other than the name he's using, and if he doesn't divulge that information with anyone who would post it on the internet we've got no business searching for it there."

"That is true, but we have accomplished something with this, not all of this work was in vain."

"Yeah, we got the bloke's name and where he lives, or lived."

"Perhaps we should tell others of our decision?" The heavy said.

"Good idea, don't want them running around for something they'll never find," the sniper dialed on his phone, the soldier answering the call.

"Sniper! This had better be important!"

"It is, we decided that we're best off just not looking for em, wait for him to come to us."

"Lemme guess, nothing on the web huh?"

"Not a damn thing we didn't already know, that's why we're just stopping for now to avoid wasting any more time on this, we got his name and that's as far as we'll go until someone on the inside spills more info on him."

"Roger that, I'll tell the others and we'll make preparations to head back the the headquarters," the soldier hung up the phone, turning to the demomanand the scout, who were awaiting the news. "Alright boys, we're packing up, sniper said his name is a far as we'll get with no inside information considering the nice position he has for himself."

"If you guys are heading off, here's my number, it'll help ma a lot to know where that rat bastard has been hiding out all these years," the scout said, handing the soldier a small piece of paper with his number written on it.

"Right; alright demoman I'll phone up the boss, if the sniper hasn't already, and tell her we're ready to go..." the demoman nodded at this, turning to the scout.

"Remember all the stuff I've been telling about that devil who's been launching all those attacks, you never know if he might rear his ugly head in this fair place, so stay on guard lad."

"I see any of his goons and they're dead, none of em will stand a chance!"

"Glad to see you're still ready for battle."

"I'm always ready, always have been always will, ever since we disbanded over at BLU I've been working my ass off," the two conversed about the threat of an attack, while the soldier began his call.

"Boss, we're ready whenever you are to send our asses back home!"

"Oh, alright, I'll have you back here in about oh five, ten minutes tops," Melody responded swiftly, the soldier having made his demand, hang up and began to dial the sniper's number.

"Oi, what do you want, soldier?"

"Boss is sending us back in five minutes, so be prepared!"

"Fine fine, I'll tell the other two, not like we have anything to prepare anyways," the sniper hung up the phone allowing the soldier to brief the demoman of the ETA."Alright you two, boss says five minutes and we're back in the headquarters," the sniper said, turning to the medic and heavy standing nearby the computer they had used.

"I suppose it's back to the usual until we start teaching that child the ropes?" the medic asked.

"Pretty much, I don't see what else there is to do now that this search is at a dead end as usual."

"Teaching little baby how to fight does not guarantee we will see battle," the heavy said.

"True, but it says that we're getting ready for it, which usually means it's going to happen soon."

"And I am guessing that the baby will be fitted like previous one?"

"From what I've heard, Melody is just toying with a later version of the ones she gave the kid last time back in 96'."

"Why not test them on other workers?"

"Eh, I'm not too sure why she hasn't tried that, but chances are we'll have to suit em up if we're going to win the next fight with that wanker with all those creeps."

"I'm sure we can just supply them with weapons similar to the ones given to the little man we took in, aside from the blades he had."

"Probably since we've been taking in a lot more armor than we need, so it's most likely going to them," their conversation went on; the time had passed and the two parties prepared to depart the city, the scout having left after giving the soldier his cellphone number, so as to keep in contact with the other members of RED. In a matter of seconds all six of them were whisked back where they were before being sent into Boston. All six of them gave each other blank looks, soon heading into their respective rooms upon returning.

In Melody's office, she had rearranged the cell that once held Miyoti into a playroom for Miyoti Jr., she was the only one who really took care of him, other than the sniper driving him to and from school. Whenever she watched him play she always thought of how he would have to abandon all of that, and be forced into a senseless war. She would just tell herself it was for the greater good, and it was unavoidable. She wasn't able to fully convince herself that the child was simply a tool in the downfall of Zerstorung, as the others viewed him, she wanted to think of him as an innocent little boy. Though she had to push these thoughts aside lest they prevent Miyoti Jr. from doing what his father had failed at doing, killing Zerstorung.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

* * *

The soldier awoke to a familiar sight, though one he had not seen for quite some time. He looked out the nearby window and saw numerous BLU mercenaries scattered around, walking through the streets without drawing any attention. The first thought through his head was to engage them, but he couldn't simply run into the streets and open fire, at the risk of killing civilians, though when he looked around he saw no civilians, just BLUs. He grabbed what weapons he had and ran to the elevator, quickly descending to the first floor, never bothering to ask any of his other teammates for help. He headed towards the front door, ready to engage the enemy.

Once the door swung open, the sun illuminated the area in a way the soldier had seen before, as if he was fighting for RED again on the battlements of 2fort. Before he could revel in his memories he saw a scout run past him, though not firing. He took this opportunity to fire a swift rocket at the scout's feet, blowing him into indistinguishable chunks and scattering the nearby BLU mercenaries. Killing again felt good, and he wasn't going to stop when there were so many others to do away with. He didn't take too much time to enjoy his recent kill before hunting the other enemies, soon finding there to be an insurmountable amount of them upon leaving the WPA's doorstep. The expected gunfire never occurred, rather they all stared at him, he didn't know why, but he took the time to withdraw his shovel and whack the closest BLU to him, which happened to be a sniper.

The sniper fell to the ground on being hit, soon attempting to flee from him. The soldier made sure to send a rocket in his direction to seal his fate, turning away knowing it would hit its mark. He noticed all the BLU mercenaries who had been gawking at him were now fleeing, the sniper now a pile of assorted body parts and organs lying in the street. He looked up and saw a large missile silo, not unlike the one he saw regularly in dust-bowl back in his RED days. The soldier then shot several rockets at the silo, bringing it down quickly and onto the fleeing mass of mercenaries. After shooting the remain clip of his rocket launcher he withdrew his shotgun and began scanning the alleyways. He sensed something and turned around to find two soldiers aiming at him, he wasn't hesitant to empty several slugs into the two, killing them instantly. As he began to reload his shotgun he looked out into the street, and saw only the soldiers were attempting to fight, all the other classes were fleeing.

Several bullets rang past the soldier's head as he took cover behind a parked car, and began to blindly fire his shotgun in the general direction of the enemy. He heard numerous screams as some of his stray bullets hit fleeing and fighting mercenaries alike, soon seeing the number of soldiers rising, he withdrew his rocket launcher and began to reload. In the same style as he fired his shotgun, he launched rockets aimlessly into the crowd, hoping to hit them without endangering himself. After reloading his rocket launcher a second time, he looked up to notice the opposing force in ruins, what was left of it now fleeing. Before he could celebrate, he saw several helicopters shining lights down at him, confused by this he shot his fresh clip into the closest helicopter, damaging it and causing it to collide with the second, efficiently taking them both down.

Now wondering why helicopters were in the mix, he continued to patrol the now vacant streets for more BLU mercenaries. His search turned up nothing for quite some time; occasionally he would see a stray BLU, though they would be too far for him to engage. After a few minutes of walking he managed to find and kill a straggling BLU, another soldier. He noticed his ammo running low, and decided to see if he could find more off the corpse. Surprisingly his search only turned up a baton, pistol, and tazer. He took what he could and left the body, now with yet another question bouncing in his head. Why did the soldier carry such strange equipment? Why were they the only ones to fight him?

He put his thoughts aside to continue his hunt, so as to protect his interests in the city, or so he believed. With the baton and pistol in hand he trudged on, finding only a few of what used to be many BLU mercenaries. Though upon reaching the Eiffel Tower, he was met by a swarm of soldiers, helicopters hovering above them. They did not fire immediately though, they stood there, aiming their weapons at him, as if to await his surrender. Once this thought crossed his mind he went into a frenzy, surrender was never an option, and so he barreled into the large group waiting for him and began beating them with his shovel, alternating between firing his newly found weapon and pulverizing them with the shovel. These soldiers were quite weak, he thought, compared to the ones he faced back in his RED days.

His rampage was near unstoppable, as even the large mass of soldiers couldn't lift a finger against his adrenaline rush. Their numbers diminishing rapidly as the soldier even began to use the body parts of the fallen soldiers as weapons when his pistol ran out of ammo. The nearby helicopters had numerous soldiers within them firing what seemed to be darts, but only a quarter of them came close to hitting their mark. He looked up to see this, and was enraged even further, withdrawing his rocket launcher, which he had reserved since he last encounter with the helicopters, and fired a well aimed rocket into the propeller of one, causing it to snap off and gash the other helicopter, soon falling to the ground and goring several soldiers. The soldier was still prepared for battle, when he looked around and noticed the pool of blood and scrap, he realized that he had won this fight. Taking the time to salvage all the things he could from the scene, such as ammo, and headed back into the city.

As he walked calmly through the streets after the massacre he had brought upon earlier, wondering why BLU had decided to reemerge like this, despite having no funds to do this, or even hire so many men. Perhaps, he thought, this was why the BLU mercenaries were never seen, aside from the scout. He hoped that he had not killed him on accident, reminding himself that he couldn't of considering the scout's location. After a few minutes of walking he saw another group of soldiers, though now with several armored vehicles forming a blockade, and the enemy now being well armed with assault rifles and machine guns aimed at his head. He didn't think twice to swiftly roll behind the nearest piece of cover, which happened to be a mailbox, and start reloading his rocket launcher.

The soldier was hailed with bullets from the opposing force, the mailbox showing signs of being penetrable as several bullets flew straight through, barely missing him. He realized this fault in his cover and ran out of it, launching all four rockets from his clip into the group, not looking at the collateral until reaching the safety of an alleyway; once there he took a swift look, revealing a majority of the vehicles damaged, and the soldiers around it injured. He reached into his pocket to withdraw the pistol looted from the previous soldiers, kept loaded by his most recent massacre, and began firing at the heavily armed soldiers. He was met with a hail of bullets, though miraculously avoided injury and continued to return fire. He watched in glee as their numbers diminished like his previous encounters, the last soldier soon falling to him. He made his way to the once guarded road and looted his fresh kills, retrieving a rifle from one of the bodies and attaining ammo for it from the other corpses.

Now armed with enough firepower to continue his rampage against the BLU forces, he marched happily past the ruined blockade and into once secured area of Paris. Now finding more of the fleeing BLUs, he went on yet another rampage on them, killing close to a hundred of them, due to their former blanket of security provided by the hastily constructed blockade being removed. The soldier quickly grew accustomed to firing a rifle rather than a shotgun or rocket launcher, though preferred his old load-out. It wasn't long before all the BLU mercenaries in the area he now occupied had been slaughtered by his hand. Growing bored of the area, he knew he had to advance to find the remaining BLUs and finish them off. He considered calling for help, but that would mean less kills for him, so he decided against it and marched on solo, in hopes of removing the possible threat of BLU's resurgence.

This process of killing went on for what seemed like days to him, slaughtering the occasional resistance, consisting of continuously stronger groups of soldiers attempting to hold him off. Later going on a killing spree of the fleeing ones, then repeating it all over again. Though he actually was only doing this for around three hours now, but he had managed to kill thousands of people in this time frame. The later groups of soldiers supplied him with rockets after slaying them for their munitions, allowing him to go on a near endless rampage of destruction, no matter what faced him. The more he thought he had finished the BLU threat off, more of them seemed to arise, almost as if there was an infinite supply of them. He believed that they were coming from somewhere, and sought this place out to destroy it and prevent any more from being created.

To the soldier, this was simply a game, slaughtering all of those people. Following his routine he quickly cleared his way through the city, nothing even coming close to causing a grave or even minor wound. Thoughts ran through his mind of returning to the WPA to rest after this massacre, but he forced himself to continue until he knew for sure they were gone for good. Though decided that if days began to pass, he would rest during the day in hiding, and hunt at night when the enemy was defenseless. Thankfully he never had to put those plans into practice, but he came close. This parade of mass murder would soon end.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

* * *

The afternoon sun lit the rooms of the WPA building, as the sniper wandered the lobby searching for the soldier, the medic soon greeting him.

"Ja?" the medic asked.

"Look, I've been searching for the soldier for the past few hours and he isn't here, and he ain't picking up his phone."

"So what if he went on his own, no need to babysit him."

"I just don't think that nuthouse did him any good, if anything it made him even more a wack job then he was before," the medic prepared to answer, but was interrupted by the television nearby, the sniper turning his head along with the medic toward the screen.

"Recent reports are in of a psychopath running rampant through the streets of Paris, killing hundreds of innocent people, law enforcement, and even military sent to aid. Details are unknown about this man, but it is advised that all residents stay indoors until further notice," the reporter went on as the sniper turned to the medic.

"Probably him, want me to get the van running?" The sniper asked.

"You know, this might be an opportunity for me to test one of my experiments."

"Huh? What makes you think that?"

"It began as a serum that would wipe someone's memory of the past twenty-four hours, though I have been working it into a gas that would have the same effect."

"Guess you actually gained something from that school they sent ya to, so what were you planning on doing with it?"

"We use it to wipe the memories of those in the area, though we have to do it quickly before this news reaches a national level."

"I'd assume it already has, so whats plan B?"

"We'd need to gas the entire country, somehow."

"I'm sure we could find some goofy way of doing it, in the mean time we need to bag that wanker before he makes even more headlines, I'll pack my tranquilizers."

"You may want this," the medic said, handing the sniper a gas mask.

"I figured," the sniper donned it as he opened the elevator and waited inside for the medic.

"Now we'll take the soldier in first, then we find some method of releasing the gas before news breaks worldwide," the medic began to board the elevator when the two were approached by Melody.

"Can either of you explain why the soldier is out there killing near everyone in the city?" Melody asked, infuriated.

"Good guess on that one, and no, we have no idea, we were just about to bag em and take the bugger in to prevent more killing then there's already been." The sniper responded.

"Then what's your plan to fix this once we do have him back?" After she asked this, the medic explained to her his experimental gas, and how he required some method of spreading it over a massive area. "I think I have a better idea, you two just go stop the soldier, I'll take care of it," the medic nodded and pressed a button in the elevator, sending it down the shaft and to the first floor.

"So what do you think that plan of hers is?" the sniper asked.

"I haven't a clue, but we just need to bring the soldier in as soon as possible," the two waited for a short time before the elevator opened, allowing them to make their way to the sniper's van and onto the streets of Paris.

As they drove through the city, the destruction the soldier had caused was quite apparent, a water tower leaning on the side of a large four-story building, ready to cave into it and destroy it. The path was quite easy to follow, simply track the body parts and debris laid on the streets.

While they searched for the soldier, Melody spoke with the heavy, being the only available worker due to the demoman's recent binge.

"Now, what I need you to do is find a body, or even a live person, and swap their clothes with the soldier," Melody told the heavy, who sat across from her.

"What would that do?" He asked.

"I plan on making it look like a suicide, since the press has no idea who the soldier is."

"So I take his clothes, and put it on a dead man?"

"Precisely."

"If I do this, how would I find the soldier?"

"The sniper and medic will relay his position, you get there after he's knocked out, and make the swap."

"Alright, I will take the job, but I will not enjoy it."

"A body shouldn't be too hard to find, the soldier left plenty of them- speaking of bodies, once the demoman gets his things in order I need him to get on the streets and help clean all that mess up," the heavy nodded as he left the office, a two-way communication device in hand, and headed into the blood-stained streets of Paris.

As heavy roamed the streets trolling for a corpse, the sniper and medic discussed their plan for capturing the soldier.

"Now when we do find him, I'll pop the bloke with a dart, but I'm worried he won't be the same when he wakes up," the sniper said.

"We could always use some of the serum to erase his memory of his killing spree."

"You know what, put some of that in this dart here," the sniper said, opening one of the tranquilizer darts and handing it to the medic. The medic then withdrew a syringe and carefully released a small amount of the material in the dart, putting it back together and handing it back to the sniper.

"Be careful not to miss."

"Oh I won't, can't remember the last shot I missed," the sniper smirked, soon returning his gaze to the streets, hunting for more signs of battle that would point to the soldier's location.

"Now when we do find him, we don't know if he'll be hostile or not, so be prepared."

"I just hope the wanker doesn't decide to blow my car up, chances of me finding another one of these is slim to none."

"Your van wouldn't be the top priority in my opinion, but the soldier isn't that valuable himself."

"If all else fails I could just ram em, it'd make a mess but then we could easily shoot em up, assuming he's intact."

"Save that for a drastic measure, we aren't looking to butcher him, enough lives have been lost already."

"Yeah, piecing him back together to revive him would be a pain in the neck," the two went on as the sniper's phone went off, the heavy on the other line.

"Heavy? What do you want?"

"The boss sent me to get a dead man, and to meet you wherever you find the soldier."

"A corpse? Is that her plan?"

"She wants me to dress it in his clothes, so that other people think he is dead."

"Still no sign of the soldier, so I'd-" the sniper cut off his sentence when he looked out into the distance and saw the soldier, returning fire at nearby soldiers, easily dispatching them with a few blasts of his shotgun.

"Hello? Sniper?" The sniper handed the phone to the medic while he prepared the dart and lowered the windshield of his door.

"Oh, hey! Reinforcements! Finally, these guys are starting to get a lot harder to kill, so I need all the help I can get out here!" The soldier yelled to the sniper, seeing him in his fantasy as an ally. "Say, what are you doing pointing that thing at me, I'm on your side, soldier!"

"Sorry, mate," the snipe whispered as he took aim and fired directly into the soldier's neck, exiting the van shortly after.

"You...traitor...I'll..." the soldier muttered as he dropped to the ground, his rampage finally over.

"Well shit, how the hell did we not think of that," one of the soldiers commented to another as they spectated the scene.

"We did, we filled him with enough tranquilizer to knock out a damn elephant!" another soldier replied.

"Must be one hell of drug if it took him down so quick if even that didn't faze him."

"That guy kind of looks familiar," the other soldier said while pointing at the sniper.

"I think he's one of those WPA mercs, shifty bastards if you ask me, haven't done a damn good thing except cause trouble."

"I thought they helped fight back in 03' against Zerstorung's attack on Berlin."

"They've been riding the good reputation that battle's given them for years, soon enough some justice will come to those punks," the group of soldiers walked away from the scene, presuming the soldier was dealt with.

"How close are you heavy?" The medic spoke into the sniper's phone.

"I should be there in about a minute, I have the dead man in hand," the heavy replied, the two continuing conversation while the sniper withdrew the dart embedded in the soldier's neck.

"Lets hope that didn't kill ya, mate," the sniper bent down and hunched the soldier's body over his shoulder.

"Sniper!" The medic beckoned from the van, "You need to strip his body!"

"What? Oh right," the sniper stole all but the soldier's undergarments and passed them to the heavy, who recently arrived at the scene. Without a word the heavy took the battered corpse he had been carrying and outfitted it in the soldier's attire, placing a gun in its grip.

"That should do, I will ride back to the headquarters with you two."

"Yeah that's fine, just get in and let's get the hell out of here before any more people see us here," the sniper hurried the heavy into the back along with the soldier's unconscious body, soon starting the van and speeding away. "A lot easier than the gas plan you had doc, eh?"

"Hopefully the gas will have its use in the future," the medic replied.

"I don't think anything of the sort should ever have to be used, just means we're copping out of something we probably caused."

"Sometimes it can be for the greater good, some things just aren't meant to be known."

The three pulled up into the WPA's lot, the soldier in hand, and returned swiftly to the lobby on the eighth floor. The heavy carried the soldier's body into his room, the sniper and medic heading straight to Melody's office.

"Alright, we took care of it, and did everything you asked," the sniper said.

"Good, though I have a feeling the soldier you knew will probably be making a come back."

"You mean the angry strict bastard he was back in RED?"

"Precisely. That's probably a good thing though, we may need that type of attitude in due time."

"It's sure as hell not good for us, but whatever, that's enough for today, come on doc," the sniper and medic left the office as fast as they had entered. After they had left, Miyoti Jr. approached Melody.

"Who are those guys?" He asked.

"Oh, they're just friends of your dad," she responded.

"What are their names?"

"They're just called the sniper and medic."

"Don't they have real names?"

"You know, I really don't know."

"How can someone not have a name?"

"I don't know."

"They should have names."

"Well their nicknames can do just as good as a real name sweetie."

"Didn't their mommies give them names?"

"I don't even know about that."

"Do they even have mommies?"

"One of them did."

"Oh, did they go to heaven like my mommy?" Melody nodded.

"They cope with it pretty well, just like you," she smiled, bending down to play with his hair and sent him off.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

* * *

May 23rd, 2012, the long awaited day that the mercenaries would begin their training of Miyoti Jr. into a force capable of taking on Zerstorung. This day finally dawned on the world, though Miyoti Jr's training wasn't the only thing on the agenda.

Esool was aware of the date the training would begin, and sent a newbie Hunter, similar to the one who killed Pandora, to assassinate Miyoti Jr. Esool did all of this behind Zerstorung's back, assuming this was something he would want done had he been informed. For the Hunter sent, it would be their first mission, though Esool wasn't worried about this, considering his target is a fairly easy one. The Hunter would be deployed nearby the headquarters, and observe until a moment to strike arose.

While Esool carried out his plot, Fawkes continued his work in the military with no end in sight. As time went by the memory of his past work faded, his only reminder being the photo of his lover, and the knife that he used all those years. He hasn't moved for quite some time from the base in Atlanta. During his work there he made good friends with Boris, who by this time had achieved the rank of Sergeant. He himself was eying a higher position, closing in on the rank of Captain.

Until now, the U.S. Military was idly spectating the world, waiting for an appearance by Zerstorung. The Air Force had detected a U.F.O in the vicinity of Paris, France, assuming it the work of Zerstorung, alerted the Army to his probable presence. Rather than send troops to France, a call was made to the French military, who had already picked up the U.F.O. earlier. Efforts were made by the French government to conceal the situation from the press, so as to avoid panic. After some searching, the U.F.O was found in an open field a few miles out from Paris, seemingly destroyed. It was quickly moved from the site and transported to a nearby port to be delivered by ship to the U.S. for investigation.

In an alleyway in Paris, only a few blocks from the WPA headquarters, the Hunter lifted a communicator from his belt in order to contact Esool of the transpiring events.

"Master Esool, I landed the ship in an unsavory manner, but managed to leave no trace of my presence, leaving the attention to my ship," the Hunter spoke into the device.

"Not as planned, but that will do, make your way to their building and observe, wait until the time is right to make your move," Esool said.

"Of course my Master," the Hunter returned the device to his belt, pulling the chain of a raptor that accompanied him, motioning it to follow. The two walked through the streets of Paris, managing to avoid detection by taking the alleyways, and silently killing any who saw them pass through. While making their way to their destination, they passed a particular apartment which happened to be the home of Collin, an old friend of the WPA after the events of the war in 03'.

Collin saw the Hunter and raptor move through the alleyway, but managed to avoid them seeing him watching. Rather than take action, he waited until the two were out of sight, then headed out, gun in hand. He knew in the back of his head that their destination was the WPA, as the sniper informed him he would be training the successor to Miyoti that day.

At the WPA, the gears were set in motion as Melody introduced the child to the team of mercenaries she had been working with since before he was born.

"This is the sniper, the one who drives you to school all the time," Melody pointed at the sniper, him waving in return. "These two over here are the heavy and medic, you can probably guess which is which," She said now pointing at the heavy and medic, who simply nodded. "And lastly, the soldier and demoman," She said pointing to the demoman and soldier , the demoman beginning to drift off but quickly lifting his head in shock of being addressed; the soldier saluting in return.

"So what do they do here?" Miyoti Jr. asked.

"Whatever I tell them to do," Melody replied, looking back the the group.

"Now will I be able to play with the other kids this year?"

"This year is different, because these nice people will be showing you how to kill people!" Melody said enthusiastically.

"But I don't want to-"

"Oh you will," Melody cut Miyoti Jr. off, waving her hand as to perform a magic trick, putting him under hypnosis.

"Crikey, do you really have to hypnotize the kid?" The sniper said.

"It's the only way he'll start doing what he's supposed to do."

"You know sometimes I wonder who's worse, you or the guy who you're trying to kill."

"Look, I may sometimes do some shady things, but he's out bolstering a giant army killing thousands of innocent people." Melody said sternly.

"Alright alright, so what do you want us to show this kid that you can't just force him to do?"

"Most of the training will be done by the soldier, considering all he needs to know is basic combat skills, which I'm sure the soldier knows more than enough about."

"Oh I'll more than train him how to kill a man, I'll show him snap a man in half with his bare hands!" The soldier said proudly.

"That's great, now Miyoti, go off with the soldier," Melody said in a gentle tone, Miyoti Jr. walking off with the soldier down the hallway into an empty room full of training dummies.

"Say, why did you never tell us we had a training room?" The sniper asked.

"I did, you just never paid attention."

"Learn something new everyday..." The sniper muttered.

Back in the alleyways of Paris, the Hunter resumed it's trek towards it's destination, the WPA. It's raptor's teeth were stained with the blood of a man who had been unfortunate enough to be taking the garbage out while the two were making their way past the dumpster he was about to deposit the trash into, as a result the Hunter had to toss the bag into the dumpster, along with the mangled corpse of the man.

"Quite ironic if you think about it, man tries to throw away garbage, then is killed and tossed inside himself..." The Hunter spoke quietly to the raptor, who responded with a low-pitch growl. "I can see the giant building in the distance, not too long until we can be done with this," The Hunter said, pointing out the WPA HQ, only being a few blocks away.

The two continued their journey while Collin made his way to a nearby building to observe the WPA from the roof, waiting for the pair to appear so he would know when to strike.

Within the walls of the WPA building, the soldier began training the child how to fight. The other four going about their own business, discussing what would become of the boy after he was trained.

"I think he's going to go the way of the other lad, four feet underground," the demoman said.

"If he croaks I'm sure we'll just find another bastard child to train up, rinse and repeat, for eternity," the sniper replied.

"Oh? Und who do you think the boy will find to screw? His sister?" The medic asked the sniper sarcastically.

"Right, no broad around that he really knows, that hit-girl was the only reason we got that squirt."

"I believe that the young one may actually succeed, though my worry is that once he does, we will lose our jobs," the heavy said.

"Don't get yer hopes up, that lad doesn't stand a chance against that son of a bitch," the demoman said.

"Maybe he might actually win, like the heavy said, what would we do?" The sniper replied.

"We've got more than this job you know, I got a nice one with the city, and plenty of money for me scrumpy."

"Yeah, well the only thing I do is kill people, and babysit apparently; so I'm screwed if I lose this one."

"If the heavy can find another job, so can you."

"I'm praying that he doesn't kill the wanker then, so that I can keep my job."

"Why would you want the boy to die?" The medic asked.

"I'm not asking that he dies, I'm asking that he accomplish something else other than finishing our work here."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, maybe blow up that giant hunk of scrap that bugger's got over Mars?"

"And _then _die?"

"If he does big whoop, least he did something."

"Let just 'ope that the soldier doesn't make em as much of an ass as he is," the demoman said, the group agreeing with this statement with soft mumble.

As the discussion of Miyoti Jr's fate continued, the Hunter closed in on the WPA, scanning the windows for the location of his target.

"It's going to take us hours to look through _all _of these windows..." The Hunter said to the raptor that accompanied him, it cocking its upward, as to say to look higher. "Of course! The master said that he was on the eighth floor, but how to look through a window that's eight stories high?" The raptor moved towards the front door, motioning to open it, the Hunter complying and the two entering the building. "So now what? Take the elevator and get murdered by those brutes he lives with?" The raptor shook its head, and pointed to an emergency staircase, an alternate way to the eighth floor.

As the two ascended the staircase, Collin made his way into the building, making sure to follow and remain hidden simultaneously. The soldier's training of the child carried on as the three advanced the staircase, Collin tracking the Hunter, the Hunter heading for his target, Miyoti Jr. The Hunter kept track of the doors as he passed them, counting them until he reached the eighth and final door.

"This is the eighth floor, now when we open the door we have no idea if we'll see the boy or those brutes first, so be ready for either," the hunter said, his raptor preparing to jump through the door.

"I don't think you'll be getting in there anytime soon," Collin said, having reached the two after several flights of stairs, worn out but kept alert from the rush of adrenaline preparing for a fight.

"What? Take care of him, I'm going after the boy myself!" The Hunter shouted commanding the raptor, it complying and lunging at Collin. The Hunter quickly opened the door as the two engaged in battle, Collin on the ground fighting the raptor back with just his fists.

Upon entering the floor he saw the four mercenaries chatting around a television, seemingly occupied. He managed to evade them as he quickly double-checked the hallway, seeing his target in a far down room, and heading towards it.

"Won't be bothering anyone else no more with your head on backwards will ya?" Collin said after snapping the neck of the raptor, leaving the fight with several wounds including bite marks and scratches. "Now where did that other one go..."

While the soldier was teaching Miyoti Jr. to successfully "neck snap" someone, he noticed a mysterious figure heading towards the room.

"Wait here son, we've got an intruder..." The soldier spoke firmly, withdrawing his shotgun and exiting the room to meet the Hunter as he approached.

"Who are you-" The Hunter was cut off as the soldier unloaded several bullets into his chest, knocking him to the ground with the force.

"Hm, son, get your ass over here!" The soldier called for Miyoti Jr., who quickly appeared. the soldier then bending down to the writhing body of the Hunter.

"Now watch closely."


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

* * *

"You did what?" Zerstorung barked at Esool.

"I presumed you would want their hope extinguished by slaying their new heir..." Esool muttered.

"Well you thought wrong! I want them to train the boy or else they'll simply collapse and I'll run out of worthy targets!"

"You'll be happy to know the man I sent was killed in the process."

"He was a beginner, so I would have seen it coming."

"I didn't think it would require that much effort, so I didn't want to waste the time of our more experienced soldiers."

"Just remember that if it's a mission that is that important, that you send our best man."

"Of course my liege, now if it concerns you progress on our base on Earth is going well and we plan on it being finished by 2015."

"That's fine and dandy, but how is the girl doing with her training?"

"She's an adept soldier, my liege, but not perfect."

"By the time we launch another attack she had better be able to compete with her brother."

"I wouldn't worry about that, the soldier who we had slay their mother is in charge of her training, and he happens to be one of our finest."

"That makes me wonder, should we begin handing out ranks of some sort?"

"It would make things a lot easier, rather than having just me and you as head officials."

"I'll probably just assign a few generals then let time prove those worthy of recognition."

"When would you plan on doing this?"

"Oh I'm not in a rush, probably after we've hit them again and waited, again, will I worry about assigning ranks."

"Sounds like a plan, any other projects you'd like to hear of?"

"I already know the Reapers are near finished, and most of the smaller dinosaurs have been domesticated."

"In that case I'll return to my quarters, farewell," Esool left the large room, Zerstorung now alone to plot out his vision for the future.

At the WPA, the soldier's training was going well, despite the interruption that proved to be fair practice. The other four now back sitting around the lobby after investigating the noise, Collin having left once he explained why he was there.

"At least this time we actually killed the one who was going after the kid," the sniper said.

"The problem, though, is that now he will send more men after him if he really wants him dead," the heavy replied.

"I don't think he put that one up to it, knowing that bastard he wants to draw this out as long as possible, so he'll let us train the boy up _then_ kill him."

"All this job is is waiting, an' it's starting to get on my nerves!" the demoman said.

"Sure seems like it, but I don't think this chain can go on forever, I mean the only part of this that's similar to the last one is that we've got this kid named Miyoti who has to try and kill that wanker," the sniper replied.

"Aye, but who is to say that it won't simply repeat itself?"

"Maybe this kid will be a better fighter than his old man, considering he's got a good three or four years training on em."

"True, but all the training in the world can't help him, he's doomed to die."

"Oh? What makes you think that?"

"You really think that after all these years the laddie will be able to make it all right? This ain't a fable lad, bad things don't go away just like that."

"Just because he won't go away doesn't mean the kid will die."

"Melody 'ill make sure that he goes down fighting that bastard, so it's one or the other."

"Yeah, well I just hope I'm not stuck being the babysitter for the rest of my days here."

"Face it, out of all of us, you're the most fit to be taking care of the wee ones."

"I suppose I'll just have to get used to it, long as they aren't a total pain in the ass."

"Hopefully there won't be any other lads."

"Until that wanker is dead, we're going to have a kid around here."

While the four resumed discussing various topics, a dock in Massachusetts had just received the UFO from France earlier than expected. Soldiers and police officers barred the area while it was loaded onto a large truck heading to Atlanta, in order to be taken apart for examination. The initial reception of the UFO received a good deal of media attention, though the truck carrying it managed to slip past the crowd of sightseers gathered near the dock.

It would be several hours before the truck arrived in Atlanta, where both Boris and Fawkes resided. Due to their similarities the two spoke frequently with each other, and as a result became good friends. In the time waiting for the truck to arrive, most of the soldiers discussed the possible contents of it, Boris and Fawkes doing the same.

"My guess is that it's just one of Zerstorung's ships, and that the pilot wasn't as skilled as he should have been," Boris said.

"That's what the Army is saying, though honestly I don't see it being anything else other than that, unless there's even more aliens," Fawkes replied, his voice slightly higher than it was when he first entered the base.

"If there were other aliens Zerstorung sure as hell wouldn't let them that close to Earth."

"Oh? Why's that?"

"Knowing him, he probably wants the battle all to himself, and letting anyone else interfere would cause a lot of problems for him."

"Well if he wants a fight he's sure as hell welcome, we've been waiting for close to ten years for him to pop back up!"

"Hm, have you heard of the WPA?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, back in my days at Versailles we were going to go after em for those officers they offed."

"Ah, well I have reason to suspect they're his top priority."

"Whose? Zerstorung's?"

"Yes, probably because that's where the boy who tried killing him back in Berlin came from."

"Did they ever find the kid's corpse?"

"Actually I believe it was in front of the bomb shelter the remaining forces hid in when it was massively bombed by yours truly."

"Oh right, they buried him in some mausoleum in front of the Eiffel Tower that the woman in charge of the WPA had built."

"It's evidently for his family, because later when his lover was killed she was put in there as well."

"Who was that anyways?"

"She was an assassin hired by someone to take the boy out, though later fell for him."

"That's what you get when you hire a woman, back in my days spies would only be men, though spies would do more than espionage."

"My father told me about your profession, he seemed to hinder you a lot."

"Oh yeah, pyros were a real pain in the ass, but thanks to their faulty equipment they're all dead now," the two exchanged a short laughter when the sound of a roaring engine sounded nearby.

"Must be the truck we were waiting on," Boris said, walking over to the source of the noise, Fawkes soon following.

The truck stopped at the entrance of the base, soon being cleared for passage, then allowed in. Upon its arrival a forklift was brought in in order to transport it to a nearby hangar, Fawkes pointing out the location of it to the operator. The UFO was relatively small, so the forklift managed to lug it across the base with ease. As the UFO was carried off into the hangar, the soldiers had now been gathered at the center of the base where the truck had been, Fawkes directing them to return to their posts.

"If that thing does turn out be Zerstorung's I guess that means we're finally going to be able to get out of this place," Boris said, having waded through the crowd to reach Fawkes.

"I was thinking, if you're right and it really is the WPA that Zerstorung is after, we have to put some sort of surveillance around there, or at least get an inside man."

"I highly doubt we'd be able to intrude like that, so we'll have to go with the inside man."

"I've got a pretty good idea of who to call, he's one of the soldiers that survived the attack on Versailles."

"What makes you think he'd be up to it?"

"Well, I can try," Fawkes withdrew a cellphone from his uniform and dialed.

Back in Paris, a phone began to ring within Collin's apartment, quickly being answered.

"Hello?" Collin spoke into the phone.

"You're Collin O'Brien, right?"

"Yeah, who's asking?"

"My name is Douglas Fawkes, I believe we met a awhile back in Versailles."

"Let me guess, you're the asshole who pulled a gun on me."

"Look, the reason I called is because I need to ask a favor of you, I need you to keep an eye on that WPA building, shouldn't be too far from where you are."

"The WPA? I was just there not too long ago, chased down some shady character who looked like he was one of Zerstorung's men."

"You're telling me that he's already sent his troops in?" Fawkes asked hysterically.

"No no, he looked like more of a rogue, worked alone, except for that raptor he had, though I snapped its neck before he got the same treatment from the soldier."

"Sounds an awful lot like that one that took out Pandora."

"He looked a tad younger than that one, don't ask me how I know, but you can sort of tell from how they act."

"So wait, do you have any idea what his motive might have been then?"

"He was probably gunning for the kid they're training right now."

"You mean the child of the one who died at Berlin?"

"Yeah, soldier's been the one heading it, pretty sure he used that guy who ran in to kill em as an example."

"Keep in touch, I want to know if anything else like that happens, you hear me?"

"Alright, but things are pretty slow down here, so don't expect much," Collin hung up the phone, Fawkes now turning back to Boris.

"So, what did he say?" Boris asked.

"Let's just say that we're probably going to be seeing Zerstorung very soon."

"Just tell me."

"Some assassin was trying to kill the kid they're training up at the WPA, presumably sent by Zerstorung."

"Don't tell me it's a girl."

"No, _he's_ dead now, so no repeats of the last one they had there."

"In that case this will be quite interesting."


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

* * *

Within the walls of the WPA, Miyoti Jr's training resumed, the soldier now handing off the reins to the sniper, in order to teach him the art of marksmanship.

"I figured it'd be best if you showed him around a gun, I'm more of a rocket man myself," the soldier said to the sniper.

"The kid probably won't be using anything that difficult to handle, something like my old SMG ," the sniper replied.

"Easiest thing for us to get our hands on would be an M16, those aren't too different."

"Yeah, saw a few in some of the weapon shipments we got, mostly for those grunts on the 7th floor."

"Alright now get your ass in there and show him how to use a damn gun!"

"Speaking of that do we have a range around here?"

"Oh, There's one in the back of the room I was in, good deal of space and some targets in the corner," the sniper nodded and entered the room where Miyoti Jr. was waiting. He then approached the boy and knelt down to his height.

"Now that you've gotten hand to hand down you're going to want to know how to use one of these," the sniper said, showing Miyoti Jr. his sniper rifle. "Although you won't be using anything like this, not with the way you're going to be parading around on the battlefield," the sniper returned his rifle to its holster, making his way to the other side of the room, soon reaching a long rectangular crate. "Now this is something close to what you may use," the sniper withdrew an assault rifle from the crate, then grabbed several targets in his free hand to place them on the range.

As the sniper prepared the shooting range, Miyoti Jr. waited patiently without a word as the last cardboard cut-out was propped up. After having setup the range, the sniper displayed the rifle to Miyoti Jr. explaining the basics of marksmanship, such as reloading. Once he finished his short speech he handed the gun and several extra clips of ammo to Miyoti Jr, instructing him to open fire. The sniper kept track of how long it took for all the targets to have been hit in a vital area, such as the head or heart, then swapped the targets for new ones so Miyoti Jr. could try again.

While the sniper repeated that process, the soldier had now joined the other three in their conversation.

"Why can't you just show him how to use a gun? Don't you normally use one?" The medic asked.

"I just figured the sniper would know his way around one better than I would, though to be honest I just hate being around kids," the soldier replied.

"Then I suppose we are in agreement the sniper will be the one to be taking care of the laddies from now on?" the demoman said, the group agreeing. "You know if this laddie really does end up going the way of the last one all this effort we've been puttin' into em will be wasted..."

"And you think it wasn't last time? Look at all the shit we had to do just to keep our asses afloat!" the soldier said.

"Aye but he was just ready to fight the second we took em in, no work on our end."

"Huh, well aside from his fate what really bugs me is how we always have to separate the old one and new one with a junior title, why not just call the living one Miyoti?"

"I think the boss was just about ready to do that in few days."

"That problems solved then..."

"You know perhaps that assassin may mean we'll have a battle to fight soon," the heavy said.

"That one I killed? Yeah you're probably right on that, don't think they'll just let me take one of them out without some sort of retaliation, right?"

"Soldier, I do not think a large-scale battle would occur so soon, I'd be prepared to wait just a bit longer before we start any real fighting," the medic said.

"As long as the wait isn't another eight years I'm fine with it, but if it reaches that point and we still haven't seen that bastard I say we just march up to his floating tin can and beat the crap out of every single crony he's got."

"We would need the boss to sign off on it, doubt she'd let us go all blitz on em," the demoman said.

"She won't have a say in it if it really does take that long for me to see action..." the solder said bitterly.

"I am placing bets that when the boy is fifteen, in three years, we will see some invading forces to deal with," the medic said.

"But are we just going to repeat the same process of attacking whatever place he invades? Or are we actually going to try and do some damage?"

"I really hope our boss isn't stupid enough to just let him walk all over us, so I'd think we'd launch some sort of counter-attack, maybe even attacking the aforementioned space station."

"That would be a nice change of pace, let's just hope this time around we don't get our asses handed to us by him within the first few hours."

After some hours of examination, the UFO that had been brought into Atlanta had been taken apart in order to send each individual piece to a different location for reexamination, and so that recovering it was difficult without the cooperation of all parties. Only a few parts remained in Georgia, the others were shipped out to neighboring states, Nevada receiving the most.

Once Fawkes relayed the information he had received from Collin, that an assassin presumably sent by Zerstorung attempted to kill Miyoti Jr., to a superior officer, plans were made to ban air travel entirely so as to keep the skies clear in the event Zerstorung plans another intrusion. Obviously this proposal would take time to get approval from all participating countries in the U.N., but after the UFO had been confirmed to have originated from Zerstorung's space station the votes rolled in, speeding up its passage. Though even with the hovering threat of another attack, the proposal wouldn't be approved for months, and in the mean time the United States would send several thousand troops to occupy France to protect against another landing.

Boris was amongst the soldiers who were to be shipped to France. Before leaving he made sure to establish a way to keep contact with Fawkes even after he was gone, despite having lived in France for so long Fawkes' job was to remain in Atlanta to commander the base. The two exchanged a few last words before Boris departed from the gates of the base, boarding a nearby transport with a few other soldiers picked from the base, heading to the closest airport.

Upon reaching France most of the soldiers were deployed to neighboring cities of Paris, Boris being one of the soldiers sent directly to Paris in a base not too far from the crash site of the UFO. On his way into the base he was greeted by Collin, who had seen the soldiers arrive earlier and hadn't been informed as to why.

"Hey you're one of the guys heading in there right?" Collin asked Boris, stopping him.

"I am, why do you ask?" He replied.

"Why are so many of you being shipped over here?"

"Evidently that UFO they picked up was Zerstorung's, so we have to up security around here."

"Alright, so where did you get plucked from?"

"Some base in Atlanta, I was there for about 2 or 3 years if I remember correctly."

"You don't happen to know a guy named Douglas Fawkes do ya?"

"He was the lieutenant there, also a pretty good friend of mine."

"Yeah well he was a real asshole back when we worked at Versailles."

"Then I guess you must be Collin, I'm Boris," Boris extended his arm for a handshake, Collin complying.

"He probably told you about me, considering I'm just about the only other guy to have made it out of there alive."

"I think I recall him mentioning you a few times, not many, but I know enough to recognize you."

"So, you think they're just going to lock you up here for another three years then ship you off?"

"Honestly all this is is waiting, and waiting; if he doesn't show up we should just take the fight to him, this is getting out of control."

"I hear ya, but I think playing the defensive is the best idea until we have a thought out battle plan."

"Until we open some lines of communication with the WPA, assuming they're Zerstorung's number one threat, we're not going to come close to having the power to attack him."

"Well, I talk to one of em every now and then, I think he's called "sniper", since he doesn't really have a name."

"Ah, presumably a former worker of either RED or BLU, right?"

"He was in RED, how would you know about either?"

"My parents worked at RED, so I got to know most of the mercenaries they hired, one of them being the sniper."

"In that case you're a better fit to go talk to them than I."

"If I do decide to, where would I find them?"

"WPA building is pretty damn easy to find, it's pretty damn tall and sits pretty far from most other buildings."

"I suppose I best be going, I'll see about talking to them."

"I'll drop by and visit, maybe someday I'll get back in the force, always thought of flying a helicopter," Collin said, turning away and waving goodbye as he made his way back home.

After Collin left, Boris acquitted himself with the others sent to the base, finding most of them to have similar views as the other soldiers he had encountered in previous bases, that Zerstorung was simply toying with them. Boris knew this was most likely correct, but even if he was that meant they could have a chance of victory if they attacked before he was prepared. Remembering what Collin said about the WPA, he made plans to visit there soon in order to share his plans with his parent's former colleagues, and to hopefully make this battle the one to end it all.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

* * *

As time went by Miyoti, having been given his father's name after a decision was made by the others, became nearly as skilled a killer as the other mercenaries after the training they had put him through. Once his training had been finished Melody saw no reason to constantly keep him under hypnosis, as he had already forgotten what other purpose he served other than to work under her name. Unlike his father Miyoti got to know the mercenaries and talked to them frequently. All of his memories had been forgotten, the only life he knew was that of a mercenary, relating to the others quite well. Some of the others differed in ways, but most were hired killers for the majority of their lives. Now with Miyoti joining in their conversation the group strayed from the predictions of his fate as the main subject.

"You may not have seen a fight yet, but I'm sure your first will work out just fine," the sniper said.

"Speaking of fighting, when was the last time you guys did any?" Miyoti asked.

"About eight years ago when we were in Berlin."

"So other than buy weapons and get in fights what do you do?"

"Most of us have side jobs to keep us busy, though the past few years have been revolving around keeping your ass safe."

"Why is it that whenever we have a kid here they're always the top priority?" The soldier butted in to ask.

"Probably because of what the boss said awhile back about how his line is the only one that can take out that wanker with the spaceship."

"You know I bet if we met that guy we'd be able to kick his ass, no relying on this kid bullshit."

"I don't know, I'm sort of inclined to believe that he really is the only thing that can kill em."

"We've never actually seen the guy, who's to say he isn't a total pushover?"

"The last kid who ran into him sure didn't come out of it too well."

"Eh, I suppose he might be a bit tougher than I give him credit for, but that doesn't mean we can't still kick his ass!"

"Look, let's just leave that to the kid, I'd rather just stick to bagging the blokes he orders around."

"Yeah kid, if you didn't already catch on from what we've been saying, you've got to kill that guy."

"Zerstorung, right?" Miyoti replied to the soldier.

"Affirmative, but the lady's orders are to hold out until an attack, _then_ launch a counter-attack, in which you'll be tasked with taking that son of a bitch down for good."

"I really have no idea what to expect out of that guy, maybe I should stick around fighting his men before I jump straight for him?"

"Making battle plans for a future battle doesn't really work out, we have no idea what kind of troops to expect, where they'll be, or how much territory they'd take; the boss is probably going to send you solo, maybe if you luck out it won't be a one-way ticket to hell."

"If little man wants to stand a chance, he will need to become stronger," the heavy said.

"I've already gone through what seems like years of training, how much more ready can I be?" Miyoti answered.

"Hm, perhaps I am not one in position to train you, you are not as big as I; if scout were here he would be one to train you."

"Didn't you guys see him back in Boston not too long ago?"

"Soldier keeps in contact with em, doubt we'd get him here or you over there without the boss throwing a fit," the sniper said.

"Maybe we can sneak scout in, train little man in secret."

"What's the problem with the scout coming over here?"

"Because kid, the scout's a bit of a blabber mouth, not a damn thing she'd say that wouldn't be relayed back to the States, last thing we need is our whole cover blown."

"I thought everyone already knew about this place?"

"No one knows everything, the information's scattered around, just a large combination of rumors."

"Now, we find meeting place far from this building, tell scout to make his way here, then we can see what he can teach the little man,"

"Alright heavy, how do you plan on convincing em to fly over here?" The sniper asked.

"Soldier will make up story, leave that up to him as I am no good at lying."

"Fine, I'll start thinking one up while you three find a meeting place, doc you just sit tight and wait it out," the soldier said, thinking of a way to persuade the scout into flying all the way to France. The medic sitting idly in his chair while the remaining three boarded the elevator and descended.

Whilst Miyoti made arrangements to meet with his soon to be mentor, Zerstorung set into motion similar plans.

Aboard Zerstorung's space station, the Hunter moved through the cell block, soon approaching one of the inhabitants and unlocking their cell.

"Boss wanted me to walk you over to him, consider yourself one lucky bitch that you aren't dead yet," the Hunter said, the prisoner following him towards Zerstorung's throne room.

"Can you tell me what's going on?" The prisoner asked wearily.

"God damn woman, you've been here for ten years! How can you not know what's going on?"

"Ten years?"

"For fuck's sake."

Upon reaching Zerstorung the Hunter nodded and turned back, leaving the prisoner alone with him.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Zerstorung said smugly.

"Who are you?" the prisoner asked.

"That is none of your concern, you need only worry about preparations for your new duty."

"And that is?"

"The man who escorted you here will see to it that you are ready, as I will need you on the battlefield once we launch our next assault."

"Why me?"

"I have my reasons," Zerstorung paused, pointing out into the corridor from which she entered "Now, you will follow him to the barracks to begin your training," the prisoner walked out of the room without hesitation, being greeted by the Hunter not too long after.

"Just keep your mouth shut and follow me."

The two made their way through the structure, soon reaching a room with numerous weapons lining the walls. The Hunter proceeded to grab one of them from its holster and instructed the prisoner to do so as well. Both armed, the two entered a large shooting range with a small number of soldiers firing far down from them.

"Now, just repeat after me," the Hunter said as he took aim and fired at the distant target.

Both Zerstorung and the WPA took this time to prepare for the battle they both knew was to come. Each side training their own star-players. As the two power-players built their force the only remaining superpower, the United States, made preparations for another war as well. They bolstered a strong military, armed to the teeth with the latest weaponry. Though unable to test its might due to the lack of any enemies, other than Zerstorung. The only thing they could do was wait for the first strike, and pray they're strong enough.

Preparing to approach the imposing WPA HQ, Boris stood only a few yards from the entrance, planning to make his proposition with the inhabitants. He saw the intercom near the door, and rather than barge in, pushed it to ask for entry.

"Hello? I was wondering if I could come in and have a word with the lot of you," Boris said over the intercom. Within the building, the sniper heard the voice and came to answer the call.

"And who's asking?" The sniper replied, pushing the intercom near the elevator door.

"Name's Boris, my parents knew the lot of you back in your days at RED."

"Pyro, right?"

"That's correct, now can I come in?"

"Yeah sure, we don't have anything to do in here right now, heavy and soldier are out with the kid trying to get the scout to come over here and train em," Boris entered the building once given the all clear, and proceeded to the eighth floor via elevator. Within several seconds Boris was on the eighth floor, greeted by the sniper, medic, and demoman sitting around the table.

"Alright mate, so what brings you over here?" The sniper asked upon Boris' entry.

"I was hoping perhaps we could work together, my base is close enough for me to help out around the general vicinity, and I'll probably be wherever the lot of you are in battle."

"If ya ever get out of the military, then perhaps you could join up with us, it'd help to have a near replica of the pyro back on our side," the demoman said.

"I'll consider it, but what I need is whatever info you might have on Zerstorung's recent activity, or any activity I may not have heard already."

"You already know about the assassin who tried to off the kid a few years back, right?"

"Fawkes told me about it back in Georgia."

"Wait, Fawkes? As in Douglas Fawkes?" The medic interrupted the two.

"As a matter of fact, yes, do you know him by any chance?"

"More than you would think," the medic proceeded to explain in detail what he had done to him, and their search for him in Boston.

"So, can I ask why you turned him into a doppelganger of some ten year old from some cartoon?"

"A man just came up to me and asked that I perform this procedure, I thought nothing of it..."

"And you think due to this, that there is some sort of link between that cartoon's "universe" and ours?"

"It's obvious that there is, otherwise we wouldn't have a voice recording of them three years prior to the show even being made."

"Good point, I suppose I could tell you what he told me about his experiences," Boris told the group of the land Fawkes described he saw, leading the sniper to interject.

"Now wait, of the...5 or so minutes I had to watch of that one bloody awful episode we saw when we made that connection, a lot of that seems similar to what you're describing," the sniper said.

"I'm more than convinced that such a link exists, but the only man who seems to know it is already there, with no intention or way of returning," Boris said.

"Guess we don't need to find the spy no more, considering we got all the information we could get from this one," the demoman said.

"I can only hope that whenever we do find some way into that universe, that Zerstorung doesn't follow."

"Though if he does he'll have one hell of a fight I'll tell ya that!"


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

* * *

2015, a year flew by in a heartbeat. Tensions grew as all sides prepared for an imminent conflict, waiting for the first bomb to drop. Each side had made its preparations for war. The WPA had trained Miyoti into a swift, ruthless killer. The United States focused all their resources into military research, and occupied countless cities in France. Lastly, Zerstorung had prepared his latest piece of technology, the Reaper, and had a large count of them at his command. With all these steps towards war, it was only a matter of time before the fighting would break out.

As any other day would be, the team of mercenaries were huddled around in the lobby making small-talk to pass the time they used to spend killing.

"Something must be going on, they wouldn't just start setting up bases around here for no reason," the soldier said.

"I sure hope so, this routine is starting to get old- fast, if we have to wait another seven or eight years to start fighting again after this one I'll be pissed," the sniper said.

"Look, I doubt things will repeat after this fight since, hopefully, we'll land a big enough hit on that bastard he won't be back!"

"Let's say he sticks around even after the fight subsides, whats to stop us from hitting em again once we shoot that tin can out of the sky?"

"Chances are the boss will find some reason not to attack, as usual."

"If it means taking him out of the picture, I'm sure she'd be up to it."

"She takes an opportunity when she sees it, like when she sent the last little man to his death in a vain attempt at victory," the heavy said.

"Whatever happened, for some reason we couldn't just bring him back to life like we always did back at RED whenever we'd die."

"Speaking of that, I'm still trying to work out what he used to inhibit the revival serum we tried using to bring the boy back," the medic said.

"Y'know she probably sends the kid in constantly because if any of us go face to face with the wanker we stand a chance of being dead, permanently, assuming he's the one behind it, and if that kid is the only one who can finish em off why waste us?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if he was working on something to counteract that serum of yours, doc, so that we'd stay down," the soldier said.

"Oh I'm sure you're right soldier, but I cannot be positive yet that he has the ability to mass produce such a thing, or if it is limited to himself," the medic replied.

"What I want to know is when we get to start the fightin', all this talk is givin' me a headache," the demoman said.

"With all these men in uniform running about the streets we're bound to see some heads cracked sooner or later!" The soldier said enthusiastically, after peering out the window.

"They've been here for about a year now, probably had to do with that saucer they recovered not too long after that piker ran in here and got his ass handed to him trying to get at the boy," the sniper said.

"Say where is the kid anyways?"

"Somewhere on the seventh floor, he actually talks to the people down there."

"Words in that we've got a few choppers, those guys will be piloting em."

"Since when did Mann start making choppers?"

"They didn't, we bought em off the states, considering they're the only ones allowed to build so much on their military after all those treaties, with Russia being crippled after that first attack back in 03'."

The group continued their conversation, while a short distance away Boris and his peers within the encampment made preparations for the conflict to come.

A small crowd of soldiers gathered around a portable television, keeping an eye on the steps being taken towards another conflict with Zerstorung.

"Tensions are rising in Europe as The United States continues its occupation of France, Germany, and Spain. Some cities have begun rioting in protest, though America promises it will pull out as soon as they confirm the absence of a possible threat," the television went on in the background as they discussed the issue.

"I'm sure glad they haven't started any shit over here," one of the soldiers said.

"On the other hand though, it would provide some action around here if they did decide to riot..." Boris replied as he made his way towards the group.

"Last thing I want to do is start a fight with civilians."

"If it was a riot we wouldn't be harming them, perhaps some beatings but it'd be quite tame."

"Look, all I want to do is get out of here, we've been stationed in this place for over a year now."

"That's probably a good thing, most of the action will be around here considering the WPA's major presence."

"Explains why we're so damn close to em, so are we helping them or?"

"I honestly do not know, but word is that as long as they're fighting our enemy, they're allies."

"Makes sense, what are they like anyways?"

"Their top men are mercenaries that used to work for RED, and then there's some kid who they've been training to kill Zerstorung."

"How are they in a fight?"

"They haven't seen one in quite some time, but from what I remember of the past wars, they do a damn good job."

As the two continued their conversation, the television blared once again.

"Breaking news from Scotland, a large fleet was spotted not too long ago heading West; it's presumed they've attempted to remain hidden by jamming the radar systems of a large section of Scotland and the UK, though were spotted easily by nearby lighthouses. As of now the ships have left Scottish waters and are believed to be heading towards the United States. It's no question that they'll be met with heavy resistance should they be hostile."

Boris turned to the screen upon hearing the recent report.

"There isn't a doubt that those ships are Zerstorung's. Though what bothers me is why they weren't attacked due to the 'no response shoot on sight' rule pretty much everyone has adopted since Zerstorung's first attacks," Boris said.

"Maybe they were just being chicken shits, the only superpowers as of now are France and the States, so I'd think if they struck those things they'd turn their asses around and land in Scotland."

"If it wasn't for being charged with 'crimes against humanity', I wouldn't be forced to serve under such a blind country."

"Hell, just be happy they didn't kill you on the spot. The normal sentence for that shit is hanging or a firing squad."

Boris prepared to reply when the television drew his attention.

"Mere moments after reports came in of the approaching fleet, the United States has responded by dispatching its own fleet with the orders to shoot on sight; hoping to avoid any possible conflict on land."

"I don't see those things taking more than a day to land, then we'll see something go down for once," Boris said.

"Well we sure as hell won't be seeing any of it, if what you say is true then they won't bother sending us back."

"We'll see our day, don't-" Boris stopped once he heard a faint roar, walking outside to investigate.

"The hell are you looking at?" One of the soldiers stepped outside with him, soon seeing the source of the sound.

Several helicopters departed from the rooftop of the nearby WPA building, heading East.

"Do they know they're going in the opposite direction of the conflict?" The soldier said.

"I have a bad feeling they know something we don't; the lot of you stay put, I'm running in there to get the word, I know a few of them," Boris said, racing towards the building as a small crowd formed watching the helicopters vanish into the sky.

Boris disregarded the intercom at the front door and bolted into the building, noting that since the elevator was probably used to reach the rooftop, it'd be a better idea to take the stairs than wait for the elevator to return. Upon reaching the eighth floor, he realized the only person there was the demoman, lying on the floor asleep. Boris quickly shook him awake.

"Who huh what- what 're you doing 'ere lad?" The demoman asked.

"I wanted to know why your colleagues departed so soon after news of that fleet broke." Boris said.

"My memories a bit blank, but I remember somethin' about buying the lad time to do something important..."

"Think damn you, what was he supposed to do?" Boris asked frantically

"Ah..something to do with that flying scrap metal, spose' to blow it up I think."

"You mean Zerstorung's space station? How does he plan on destroying it, or even getting there?"

Another roar was heard above, signaling another departure.

"That must've been the lads chopper."

"What?"

"Heh, Now it's clear, they sent the lad alone to Atlanta to jack the craft they were so hyped up about a year or so back."

"He plans to waltz in there and just fly it out of there?"

"From what we've heard, Melody worked something out to have that thing pieced together and ready to go a few months or so after they ripped it a new one."

"Why couldn't they have sent it over here?"

"Too suspicious and what not, so they left it in the base."

"Wait...Back to what you said about 'buying time', you're implying that he's planned an assault that the WPA has known about yet refused to divulge the intelligence of?

"All I know about that is they think they saw em landing not too far off from the border, so they're thinking that he's using that fleet to take the mass media coverage while they're starting the real attacks."

"Then why didn't you go with them?"

"Too drunk, but now I'm fine, until I get another bottle."

"Follow me, I'll bring you back to the base and we'll ride in ourselves."

"With what?"

"We've got a few helicopters in there, I just need to convince the others that what you say is true."

"Well I ain't got no proof of what I say, so we're gonna have to wait till the lads see em on the news."

"Whatever men I can convince, we'll take."

"And what are they gonna say when you ride off in their chopper?"

"Hah, I'll just take it, not much they can do aside from open fire."

The two chuckled as Boris called the elevator from the rooftop, only several floors up, and ascended to the bottom floor, the demoman alongside him.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

* * *

Eight hours since the sighting of Zerstorung's fleet, an attack began on the eastern border of France, though causalities were avoided as the mercenaries arrived in time to hold the border, preventing any advancement. Though the fleet was more than a distraction like the WPA believed. Zerstorung anticipated the paranoia of the United States to lead them to send their navy in almost immediately, and had the actual transports arrive from the North, while the battleships attracted the real threat. The transports location? The port city of Boston, Massachusetts.

In order to insure their safety, numerous soldiers were sent to occupy almost all the eastern states; Fawkes, now having attained the status of Colonel, leading the troops ordered into Massachusetts. It would be several hours before they reached their destination, and even longer to fortify the city.

As the convoy made its way towards the eastern shore, Boris and the demoman had taken a helicopter from the nearby encampment almost undetected, and made their way towards the fight with the other mercenaries.

"The only thing I 'ave to ask is how you can fly this damn thing," the demoman said.

"After awhile you get the hang of it, thankfully I got most of that out of the way lifting off from the base," Boris said.

"It's a damn good thing they only had a few tents in there otherwise this thing would've been wrecked."

"Hm, about how far do you think they went?"

"Oh probably not too far out, but I can't get in contact with em since we haven't invested in some sort of communicator other than the sniper's phone."

"Can't be too hard to spot a firefight this high up, just keep an eye out."

Back in the United States, Miyoti had arrived in Atlanta where the UFO was being kept. Upon reaching the hangar inside the military encampment, he was lead to the spacecraft by a pair of soldiers.

"You're the kid the WPA sent over here?" A man nearby the UFO said; Miyoti nodded. "They _did_ give you something to do the job with, right?" Miyoti presented the man with several bricks of C4. "In that case it's all yours, from what we've seen there isn't much to flying it. It has a set route that it'll follow but if you need to you can steer it around," the man stepped aside as the soldiers moved away, allowing Miyoti a clear path out of the hangar. Within a matter of seconds the UFO flew out of the hangar and made its way to Zerstorung's space station.

"General, You really think that kid will be able to destroy that thing?" One of the soldier's asked.

"We're relying on it to finally do some damage to that son of a bitch," the general replied.

"And if he doesn't destroy it?"

"We get a repeat of the last battle we had, wait for another one of those kids, and send him back out there," The general paused, "Now, get that convoy we sent to Boston on the line, they'd better be there by now or we're gonna have a big mess on our hands," The soldier reached for his communicator and tuned it, handing it to the general. "Where the hell are you?"

"Uh, I think we're about ten or twenty minutes from our destination, haven't checked the road recently," a voice replied over the communicator.

"Well that isn't gonna cut it! Recon says that the enemy is going to get there in less than that, so you'd better get your asses in gear because I don't want blood on my hands!"

"Traffic's pretty heavy, even with the escort there's still a lot of people going in the opposite direction," the general turned the communicator off at that point.

"God damn it, this is why we don't tell anyone dick shit! It was easy until that bastard decided to roll in and hit us!" The general took a deep breath, "After we're done with this one, there's going to have be a change of plan, all this panic was caused because we've kept them from the harsh reality that was plaguing Europe and Asia for so long. I hope to god the government will make the right move."

"You have to admit censorship was the best idea at the time," The other soldier said.

"We were idiots for thinking we'd never have to fess up to what was going on, but It's not going to be my job to clean this shit up."

Zerstorung's onslaught continued on the border of France, where the mercenaries had engaged them with the help of the makeshift army formed by the other workers at the WPA. The soldier made quick work of most of the enemies around him, taking pride in every kill. After finishing off a downed enemy with a stab using his shovel, he heard a loud screech, turning around to see what had produced it to see a mechanical husk, brandishing an over sized axe, charging at him. He quickly rolled out of the way as the thing plowed through everything around it. Once realizing it had missed, it swung angrily at the soldier, prompting him to duck and withdraw his shotgun to return fire. After several shots he saw that the bullets had no effect on the metallic body of the creature, though saw an opportunity in its electrified eyes. The mechanical beast screeched again, and rushed the soldier as he bended down on a single knee and prepared a rocket, timing it perfectly so as to strike the beast moments before it made contact. The rocket struck directly in its eye, sending it back and producing a small spark, though it soon began to lift itself from the ground to prepare another attack. As the creature lifted itself another shot struck it, causing a large explosion as it slumped over, the electricity in it's eyes slowly fading. The soldier turned around to see the sniper nearby, having delivered the killing blow to whatever had engaged him.

"Oi, what the bloody hell was that thing?" The sniper asked, moving towards the soldier.

"No clue, but it seems shooting the thing in the eyes is how it dies, so who cares!" the soldier proclaimed, eagerly anticipating the next engagement.

"Looks like it was some sort of machine, probably one of that bugger's new toys," the sniper said as he approached the body of the creature, lifting its head up to examine it.

"We know how they die, so why look into it?"

"It'd be nice to know how they work, but I suppose you're right, something like this would be more of a job for the engineer if he was still around."

"Now let me just take this thing's head as a souvenir..." the soldier bent down near the creature's body and began hacking at its neck with his shovel.

In the distance, the heavy and medic saw the soldier and sniper gathered near the fallen creature.

"If we come along one of those baby toys, I will crush it and make into bullet," the heavy said.

"I highly doubt there are that many of them if we've just now seen _one_ of them," the medic replied.

"Follow me doctor, we will lead these little men into battle," the heavy said, referring to the WPA's soldiers.

The two heard a loud roar as a helicopter flew over them, and towards the soldier and sniper. Inside it was Boris and the demoman, preparing to enter the battle. Seeing the area by the soldier and sniper was clear, they chose to land there.

"Now what happened here?" Boris said as he exited the helicopter.

"Some metal monster tried offin' the soldier, didn't work," the sniper replied.

"Its head will prove to be quite the trophy," the soldier chuckled to himself after successfully decapitating the creature.

"Now where's the battle at?" The demoman inquired.

"The other blokes we work with have been doing most of the work pushing 'em back, we're just lagging behind to make sure we keep what ground we've got," the sniper said.

"The lot of ya can ride with us, and I suppos' we'll take the doc and fatty with us too," Boris made his way back to the helicopter once the demoman finished his sentence, motioning the soldier and sniper to follow. All of them were soon in the helicopter, heading towards the heart of the battle.

The battle on the other side of the world began, as Zerstorung's transports made their landing in Boston, with the convoy of soldiers still several minutes away. Hordes of troops poured out of the ships, all with a variety of weapons. Within seconds the city was lit ablaze, gunfire and mortars besieging it. Deeper in the city, the scout had made preparations, knowing that help would most likely be delayed, if it ever even arrived. Armed with his old weaponry, his scattergun, pistol, and bat, his first objective was to insure the safety of his mother. He rushed through hoping to reach her before the approaching army did, though as he got closer, he saw the aid sent to the city not too far away. Ignoring this, he ran towards her home and entered.

"Ma, you in here? We need to get the hell outa' here or we're screwed, come on!" the scout called out, but there was no answer. Perplexed, he checked the building thoroughly to find that she wasn't even there. As he was about to leave, he saw the local newspaper on the table, on it a notice that the city was to be evacuated several hours prior. Feeling relieved, he exited the building content, only to hear a shrill scream in the distance. He ran as fast he could towards the direction he had heard it, trailing it to a nearby alley where he saw a soldier knelt down, holding an indistinguishable body. The scout slowly walked up behind the soldier, curious as to what or who he was holding. Upon peering over the soldier's head, he saw his mother in their arms, who briefly glanced directly at him before going limp. Feeling a presence behind him, the soldier turned his head to see the scout, who was awe struck.

"She's dead, but I suppose we can both share that pain, no?" The soldier revealed himself to be the RED spy, the scout's father in law.

"Couldn't you have helped her?" The scout said frantically.

"I'm afraid not, though I did kill the devils responsible for the deed," The spy pointed towards the corpses of a raptor and Hunter.

"Oh man.."

"Pull yourself together, you're still in the position to help us fend off these scoundrels, my men have already begun purging them from the area," the scout nodded lightly and followed the spy out of the alley, and towards the other soldiers. Zerstorung's force was small as they weren't expecting heavy resistance, so the military quickly expelled them from the city, with the spy leading the counter-offensive.

As commemoration for defeating the invading forces, Douglas Fawkes, formerly known as the spy, was awarded the title of General, as preparations were made by the United States to aid the WPA against Zerstorung's stronger force. A day after receiving the title of General, Fawkes got a small package from an unknown address, inside a note and a mechanical face plate.

The note read:

_"I heard about that new rank of yours, pretty impressive french boy, never thought you'd get the dang far in the ranks but hell, you're one sly son of a gun. I whipped this up not too long ago, figured you couldn't pull off that deep voice of yours no more, so rather than sound like a cross between a man and a lady, this little number will let you tool around with your voice like that little kit of yours used to. Hell if I know where it went, but I'm sure this will work just the same, 'cept without the looking like other people part._

_ -P.S. sorry bout your girlfriend, partner_

_ Signed, The Engineer"_


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

* * *

While the conflict in the West had been resolved, Zerstorung's forces still held strong in the East, fighting against the WPA's newest recruits, and the battle hardened mercenaries. Their only goal was the hold the line until Miyoti could complete his mission, though holding off Zerstorung's army became increasingly difficult as time went by. The mechanical creature the soldier and sniper had faced earlier was known as a Reaper, and many more of them continue to battle against the mercenaries.

Split into several groups, the mercenaries held strong against the seemingly never ending wave of enemies. Boris stood near the sniper, preventing any of Zerstorung's soldiers from reaching them whilst the sniper was occupied.

"Ya know back in the day, pyro would sometimes flame all over where I was trying to shoot, then I'd get nailed by the bugger on the other end of the place," the sniper said whilst focusing on the battle.

"Dying wasn't that big a deal back then, was it?" Boris replied.

"Still isn't, though we try our best not to."

"Understandable; now can you tell me what exactly you and your allies are up to?"

"Figured the demoman wouldn't be sober enough to fill you in, but we're just keeping these wankers occupied until that kid blows up that hunk of metal," the sniper replied after firing a shot.

"Zerstorung's space station?"

"Yeah, boss was thinkin' maybe if it went down it'd solve our problems, rather than sending the kid to die fighting that bloke again."

"So what made her think sending him into his lair and _destroying it_ would be an easier task?"

"It's a giant floating metal heap in space, just needs a few well placed explosives and the thing is done for."

"I'm sure it would never be destroyed on anything but his own terms."

"That's more thinking than I can do while trying to do my job," the sniper said, taking another shot as Boris returned to his duty.

On the other end of the line, the heavy and medic held the area while the soldier decimated the nearby enemies in a berserk frenzy.

"Perhaps we should go further in as soldier seems to be handling himself quite well against other men," the heavy said.

"I'm sure you'd like to, but we're required to hold this area, and moving even further into the enemy territory would jeopardize our position," the medic replied.

"Why not push them out of their land if they are so weak?"

"We can't be sure of how strong the enemy force is behind the area we're holding."

"Hopefully soldier doesn't kill all of them before us."

"He'll have to come back over here soon enough; they'll be plenty of others for you to kill, heavy," the heavy chuckled as he and the medic advanced to the soldier's area and fought alongside him.

The WPA forces kept Zerstorung's attack at bay, all in the name of buying Miyoti enough time to finish his task. After only a few hours, he arrived at his destination- Zerstorung's space station. Managing to dock inside the station and enter undetected, Miyoti proceeded to make his way to the engine room, its location being quite obvious due to the numerous signs around the station. Any other time he'd have been caught by now, but a majority of the guards were occupied with the invasion, giving him the chance to slip through the base with ease. It was only a matter of time before he found the engine room and made his way inside, though to his surprise the room was void of any guards, though he didn't stop to think too long as he followed through with his mission.

Once he had finished placing all of the explosives he began to make his way towards the exit, only to be blocked by a mysterious figure. Startled, Miyoti drew his blades, similar to the prototype his father had used, and engaged the unknown person. They retaliated with their knife, parrying Miyoti's attacks one by one, soon knocking him back to the other side of the room with a swift kick to the chest. Landing nearby the explosives he glanced at the timer, realizing there was little chance of him escaping due to the assailant, deciding to fight the unknown attacker to the end. Caught off guard, the attacker was expelled from the room by a swift tackle, the two now battling across the entire station.

Back down on Earth, the WPA continued to occupy Zerstorung's army, preventing them from advancing further into Europe. The mercenaries had advanced from their previous position, and were now fighting alongside the other WPA troops. They had divided themselves amongst the trenches they were holding; the soldier, demoman, and Boris went in one direction while the heavy and medic went in another, and the sniper as far as he could be while still being in range. The heavy and medic were the first to engage the enemy, the medic deploying his overcharge thus granting the heavy invulnerability, and increased damage due to the additional piece on the medi-gun.

"Hm, perhaps if you two could attract as much attention as they do, I could go around and scorch them," Boris said, whilst observing the heavy and medic.

"Alright, demoman, you go first and start waving your axe around, I'll come in after they're eying you," the soldier said, the demoman nodding in agreement and exiting the cover to engage the nearby enemies. Soon following, the soldier fired rockets to cover the demoman as he joined him in combat.

As he prepared to leave his cover, Boris stopped for a moment and peered out into the battlefield to notice an enormous beast emerge from the ground, soon revealing itself to be the entity known to the WPA only by the name "The Summoner". The area around it became engulfed in flames as the beast rose its head into the sky to let out a thunderous roar. Upon his arrival, the beast began warping in prehistoric creatures into the war zone around it. It was made clear that the monstrosity was in league with Zerstorung's troops, as it never once made an attempt to strike any of his men. Boris had ample time to warn his squad mates of the Summoner after they had cleared out the enemies he was meant to ambush.

"The hell happened? We thought you were gonna go round and kill em all for us...but that doesn't matter anymore, we took care of it- now-" the soldier was interrupted as Boris walked towards him and grabbed his head, tilting it in the direction of the recently emerged enemy. "Oh..." the soldier stood motionless, but only for a moment before he declared "Nothing that spineless worm can churn out that I can't kill!" the soldier said before charging towards the towering beast, the demoman soon following along.

By the time the three reached where the Summoner had surfaced, the heavy and medic were already ahead of them, engaged with the beast in battle. With the help of the medic, the heavy easily cleared the area of the dinosaurs being warped in, and allowed him to occasionally focus his fire on the Summoner himself. While the pair kept the aggro, the group engaged the Summoner, save Boris due to his inability to harm it directly, rather he focused on the creatures summoned in. At this point the center point of the fighting became where the Summoner emerged, the mercenaries now having the other WPA soldiers fighting alongside them against the beast.

The battle went on for quite some time, though a deathly silence covered the entire battlefield when a large explosion appeared in the sky. All heads turned to examine it, soon realizing the explosion was Zerstorung's space station. Wordless, Zerstorung's army, along with the Summoner, retreated at the sight of their loss. Upon their victory, the mercenaries and WPA soldiers cheered as they made preparations to return home. Several helicopters landed nearby, the mercenaries, and Boris, being directed to a separate one from the others.

"I'm afraid I have some good news and some bad news," Melody told the group as they entered the helicopter.

"Let's hear the bad news first," Boris said.

"Miyoti is presumed KIA, and Zerstorung wasn't on the space station, nor were any of his men."

"And the good?"

"The space station is destroyed, that's it."

"At least he managed to do what he was supposed to this time around, even if he didn't take Zerstorung out."

"Yes, but I was hoping he'd accomplish both, though with both remaining members of his family out of the picture it seems all hope is lost."

"So, whens the funeral?"

"Later today, I planned it in advance to be honest, I knew he wouldn't make it out alive..."

"Then why put all your faith into him surviving?"

"I didn't, I just thought that Zerstorung would be on the space station, but when he decided to just disappear with the rest of his men it sort of destroyed my plan without me even knowing it."

"Hopefully all this means that there won't be any more kids for me to deal with, right?" The sniper asked.

"If I have it my way and find a replacement for Miyoti, then no, but for now, yes."

"Y'know I probably coulda dun the job had ye sent me, I'd haf come out of it alive too," the demoman said.

"I'm not exactly sure with leaving that much responsibility to a drunkard."

Several hours passed, and all the soldiers had returned to the WPA, and the mercenaries heading to Miyoti's funeral.

"This is technically the second funeral we've gone to for the same person..." the soldier said.

"They have the same name, sure, but they're far from the same person," the sniper said.

"Well they sure did look and act alike, and having the same name doesn't really help."

"It was easy back when one was dead and one was alive, but now with both the bludgers dead we can't just call one 'the kid'."

Moments later the mercenaries arrived, the attendees mostly consisting of WPA workers who knew him. None of the mercenaries were particularly interested in the service, except for the soldier, who out of the mercenaries was the only one to show any emotion towards Miyoti, though only because he had trained him into what he was. Melody delivered the eulogy, and as she began to speak a large crash was heard in the distance. Looking for action, the soldier volunteered to investigate the source of the noise, allowing Melody to proceed with the speech.

The soldier made his way to the source of the noise, soon discovering a trail of smoking darting into a nearby alley. He walked cautiously towards it, and upon reaching it he saw the bodies of Emily and Miyoti, frozen in death with each other in their arms. He slowly moved towards the smoldering bodies and lifted them together, making his way back with the two.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

* * *

Within the throne room of his newest abode located in the middle of the North Pole, Zerstorung stared blankly out a nearby window. Esool was giving a report of the battle which had transpired, and its aftereffects.

"The station is believed to have burned up in the atmosphere, or at least the pieces that made it to Earth. A small number of parts got through and landed, all of them being in France," Esool went on.

"But how...how could this have happened?" Zerstorung asked.

"Leaving a single person to defend the entire station wasn't the wisest move you've ever made, my liege."

"Perhaps this means something. They're obviously growing stronger, considering the loss at Boston."

"Well, sir, if you truly want victory, why not, rather than split your forces, focus on a single target?"

"I don't want victory, I want a fair fight- and if I want a fair fight I need to be in control."

"Which the loss of the space station proves the opposite."

"Exactly; this is all escalating slowly, but soon they'll attempt to bring me down, and I'll be forced to deal damage to the point where I won't be able to toy with them anymore."

"Their morale is obviously very high at this point."

"And soon they'll want to take it up with me, and the one way to avoid such a thing is to draw their attention elsewhere."

"What could possibly distract them to the point of ignoring you?" Zerstorung chuckled, now turning away from the window and towards Esool.

"We've already got one thing on our side, and that is the secrecy of this very base, for the time being..." Zerstorung paused, "Have you been paying attention to what the old RED men have been doing in their spare time?"

"Of course, we monitor practically all occurrences on Earth, mostly those of importance."

"They were all intrigued by the mystery surrounding the German's patient, ultimately leading them to the conclusion there was some link between our world and another, much different one."

"You mean the Pokemon universe?"

"Yes, and I believe that if we were to open a 'mysterious' portal to the world in a local area, the chaos it causes would be more than sufficient cover for myself."

"Oh? And how do you plan on creating such a thing?"

"I'll simply take the blueprints of RED's old teleporters and add my own little touch to it."

"Good enough for me, now what are you plans for when they discover the portal and enter it?"

"Only time can tell, let's just get that far and we'll see how it plays out..."

Within the Takatzi mausoleum, the medic and soldier were standing over the recently placed bodies of Emily and Miyoti, both having been repaired by the medic to the best of his ability and injected with the revival serum in hopes of their recovery. Time passed and after a few hours of waiting, Miyoti awoke.

"I don't know whether to be overjoyed or infuriated at this point..." the soldier said.

"Trust me, we won't see a repeat of the last few battles- well at least the probability of it is very low," the medic replied.

"What happened?" Miyoti asked groggily, standing up from the pedestal he was laid upon.

"You died blowing up the bastard's floating space fort, but luck had it that you landed right back here- I honestly can't believe it myself," the soldier replied.

"So we won?" Miyoti asked enthusiastically.

"Partially, he lost that hunk of metal, but he isn't dead. Also, before I forget, your sister died in the explosion too," the soldier said, pointing over to the body of Emily nearby.

"Oh...I didn't even know I had a sister..." Miyoti muttered.

"Yeah...long story kid, but it's all behind us now, all that matters is that you're alive."

"Alright, so, now what?"

"We're heading home, we all deserve a long god damn rest." The medic walked past the two to examine Emily before they left, to see if the serum was working or not. After a brief moment he returned.

"I'm afraid she is dead, the serum had no effect it seems, very similar to when the other boy died," the medic said.

"Okay, she's good as dead, the kid's back alive, and I've had enough for today," the soldier said, exhausted, exiting the mausoleum. The medic and Miyoti soon followed.

The world was slowly recovering from the brief but devastating attack, most attention being paid to the near destruction of the entire city of Boston. Action was taken to secure the city, with it being placed under temporary military control until it could be deemed safe again. Though while the military was focusing on recovery efforts, the same amount of manpower was being placed in the planning of a counter-attack against Zerstorung beyond the damage they've already dealt. Of course the obvious man for the job would be the recently promoted General Fawkes, who began work towards a strike back against Zerstorung almost as soon as he had won Boston.

"Now, with the loss of his space station, Zerstorung is left vulnerable- but without any idea of where he is we have no ability to strike back, which is why we plan on starting a full search of the planet to weed him out," Fawkes said to a small group of people, using his newly acquired device to speak in a gruff voice that accommodated his role.

"How do you know he's even on Earth? He could be on Mars for all we know," one of them asked.

"It'd be more or less to insure that he _isn't_ here really, a full scale attack would be favorable though."

"So if we can't find him, then what?"

"If the search doesn't turn up anything then our best bet is to just hunker down until we catch wind of him again."

"It won't solve the problem though, if we want him gone we need to be aggressive."

"We can't fight what we can't see. When he shows up again or we manage to find him, then we'll move in."

"Of course, but we simply cannot afford to wait to make our move."

"Unfortunately waiting all we can do in the event we can't spot the bastard," after finishing his sentence, the group exchanged a few quick glances before they gave their verdict.

"Now, considering time is of the essence, we've decided that we'll allow you to follow through with your plans as far as it'll take us," Fawkes and the others then exited the room, preparing to put Fawkes' ideas into action.

Around this time Zerstorung made preparations to create two portals for his scheme. One in plain sight of the world, and another for the use of himself and his army. As progress escalated, he began thinking of things to do once the project was finished.

"A whole new lot of people to torment..." Zerstorung muttered to himself, Esool not too far from him.

"You know master, I've done my share of studying this place, and I can say it's easily a more rewarding target than our own universe," Esool said.

"Hm? How so?"

"These people seldom face the horrors some may experience here, such as genocide, considering that it is of course meant for children."

"Yes but I don't think the teletubbies would be very fun to mow down now would they?"

"Of course, but these people are simply ripe for it. Believe me, once we scout the place out you'll see what I mean."

"You'd better be right, though as long as there's some type of order I'll be there to spread the chaos."

Only moments after Fawkes' plan went into action, recon planes set off to begin the search for Zerstorung, while a massive amount of infantry was prepared for when and if he was spotted. The predicted time for the planes to do a full fly through of the globe was several days, maybe more. Infantry wasn't expected to be ready to head out for around the same time period, hoping to be ready around the same time word came in that Zerstorung was located.

As Fawkes observed the planes take off, he was approached by a soldier from the nearby hangar.

"Sir, you may want to come take a look at this," the soldier tilted his head towards the building he had came from, motioning Fawkes to follow. Upon entering the soldier pointed at a small handheld television positioned nearby.

_"Word has just come in from Tours that the city has been placed under quarantine for reasons currently under investigation. Reports have been scattered, but most point to a wormhole of sorts being the cause. Citizens have only recently been evacuated, and the borders taped off. Even law enforcement is being sent out of the city while the French Military moves in to secure the area."_

"Chances are we're going to have to move in there, because that sure as hell doesn't sound normal," the soldier said.

"I'll lead the operation; the planes aren't going to pick that bastard up for at least a few days," Fawkes quickly responded.

"We don't have any idea what we're up against here, I'd honestly suggest we let the French report back from the quarantined area before we make our move."

"I can safely blame any extraordinary happenings on Zerstorung- wouldn't be surprised if he was behind this," before the soldier could reply, a pilot entered the hangar and approached Fawkes.

"General, we're ready to go whenever you are," the pilot said.

Fawkes followed the pilot outside to an idle helicopter, and as he prepared to enter, he was surprised to see a familiar face inside it.

"Yo, what's up?"

"How you managed to not only find me but board the same helicopter perplexes me."

"I saw you n' that other guy walk in that big place, so once I got word of that giant hole everyone's talkin' about I was thinkin' you'd be going der too."

"And then you told the pilot where I was."

"Yup, but don't ask how I slipped in here."

"Your confiscated uniform speaks volumes."

"Hey, what mattas is that I'm here. Hopefully we're gonna give that slime bag what's comin' to em."

"We cannot be positive we'll find him there, though it'll surely bring us closer to him."

Their conversation drove on as the helicopter took off, along with several others, towards the quarantine zone.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

* * *

Fawkes and the scout had arrived at their destination, and landed only a few miles from the wormhole. The French Military and WPA had arrived many hours earlier, though hadn't tampered with the wormhole. Upon getting closer, the two were greeted by Boris, who had arrived with the WPA.

"I was wondering when we'd see the lot of you," he said.

"If I say so myself we got here pretty damn quick, though we don't exactly live here now do we," Fawkes retorted.

"Neither do I, though my current work has kept me here for quite some time..."

"Well now that we're all here, you'll be back with us"

"Of course. Now, the boys back here were discussing whether or not we should enter this thing- worried that it may be lethal."

"We planned on sending a drone or two in first, see where those went and if they could maintain contact."

"That's what I was thinking, though with a disposable person, but a robot works fine."

"Very funny, now head back over there and tell them what we're doing, don't need them getting killed," as Fawkes finished speaking, Boris turned away to return to the group of gathered mercenaries gawking at the wormhole.

Moments later several more soldiers arrived with Fawkes, carrying a large robot, setting it down near the wormhole. The robot resembled a tank, though armed with a light machine gun attached to the top of it.

"All we had was this Gladiator, though after a bit of debate we decided it'd probably be better to have the thing armed," one of the American soldiers said.

"So after we get the all clear, then what?" the soldier asked.

"We'll move in and begin recon."

"Will there be any killing involved?"

"Can't say for sure, really depends on what we find in there."

"I hope it's something we can kill," the soldier quietly said to the demoman, who returned a grin.

One of the American soldiers began operating the robot, easing it into the wormhole.

"Just to bring you up to speed, general, the French have already done the liberty of quarantining the city," Melody said as she approached Fawkes.

"Great, now we can focus on whatever the hells in there," Fawkes replied, looking over at the wormhole.

"I wouldn't worry about it, if it's anything hostile, the mercenaries would be more than enough to deal with it."

"What I'm worried about isn't some aliens pouring out of there, what if it's some parallel universe similar to ours?"

"We'd simply treat it as we would our own world, though of course there's the threat of Zerstorung discovering it..."

"Exactly, if we ran into something hostile Zerstorung wouldn't let them gain any progress, he wants us all to himself."

"Hm, then perhaps we'd have to dig in there for awhile, in the event we do that, I'd leave operating there to you."

"And provide aid when needed."

"If Zerstorung knocks on our door, then we'll be there."

"Sir, we've got the drone in the portal, we're waiting on it to return the signal," a soldier interrupted. Fawkes moved over to the soldier operating the drone, Melody looking at them as well.

"It's online, I'm moving it around to get a good look of the place," the operator of the drone said. As they continued their progress, the soldier moved in closer in responses to the others gathered around the operator, motioning the other mercenaries to follow with a quick gesture of his hand.

"I'm seeing a few houses...windmill...lots of grass."

"Definitely what I was worried about, it's practically just like us!" Fawkes said to Melody.

"Well, we can't be sure about that, just wait until he's done..." she replied.

"Not seeing any life yet, but those buildings seem to imply it...I'm going to move in on one of the houses, bump it a bit to see if anyone answers it," the operator inched the drone towards one of the houses nearby, knocking on the door by ramming it with the mounted firearm. "Yup, that's wood alright," the operator waited and aimed the mounted gun and camera upwards in preparation. A small crowd soon gathered around him. After a few seconds, the door opened to reveal a young woman, who upon seeing the drone's weapon aimed directly at them, shrieked and shut the door. "Well fuck, maybe that wasn't the greatest idea, but we got the information we needed."

"Wheel it back around, we're not going in until we see what the hell is in there, for all we know there's rats twice the size of a man in that grass," Fawkes said to the operator.

"Alright, just let me turn this around..." The drone made its way back from the door and into the grass nearby, almost immediately noticing a purple rat like creature scampering by. "Should I shoot it?"

"Hold your fire, we don't need to fuck the place up before we even get there," the operator nodded as he tracked it with the camera as it ran off, continuing on. As he was about to advance further he heard a loud roar coming from behind the drone, and turned it around. What he saw seemed to be a cross between a lizard and a dragon, and it appeared ready to attack the drone. Standing near the creature was a man and the woman who had answered the door earlier.

"Now should I shoot that?" The operator asked sarcastically preparing to return fire on the creature while it prepared an attack.

"Knock yourself out," the drone was engulfed in flames, though was only moderately damaged by them. In the aftermath of the strike, it had an opportunity to retaliate. Within seconds the drone opened fire on the creature, riddling it with bullets. After taking a good deal of fire, the creature charged the drone in rage; lifting off the ground and grabbing it, carrying it through the air as it prepared to dive with it into the ground. Knowing the drone was doomed, the soldier expunged as much munition as possible into the creature's chest on the descent, preparing to have it self-destruct before it can be destroyed. Soon the screen turned into static as the drone exploded in the creatures arms on impact, the operator closing the controller.

"Hot damn, now that was fun to watch," the soldier remarked.

"The place looks safe, we'll just need to be on guard," Fawkes said.

"So that's our queue to move in?"

"Not all of us, some of us need to stay out here and relay information we obtain, so I'll only be taking a small squad of men."

"All of us can go in there, the boss can just stay out here," the soldier said, referring to the other mercenaries.

"I'll handle them, just worry about your own," Melody said to Fawkes.

"Right, now then, scout, Boris, you two get your asses over here," Fawkes said to the two.

"Is it just going to be us three?" Boris said as he walked away from the circle of mercenaries discussing the recent events.

"No, we'll have...you," he said pointing at the operator of the drone, "and that guy over there," he pointed at a soldier in the distance, who upon hearing him moved closer.

"I suppose we're ready to head in?" The soldier asked. Fawkes nodded, as the five moved from the others towards the wormhole. "Say, aren't you the one I met awhile back coming in to the base by the WPA?" The soldier asked Boris.

"Most likely, I don't know many others who wear similar gear such as myself," Boris replied.

"I'm Collin, can't recall if I told you back then, but you know it now."

"Oh right, I remember what Fawkes told me about you, and something about helicopters."

"Yeah, I've been working on that, though I ended up just settling for the special forces."

"Alright, chit chat time is over, get your asses in there," Fawkes barked at the two, the scout and operator moving in before them.

Once the group was gone, Melody turned her attention to the mercenaries.

"Are you going to be heading in there any time soon?" She asked.

"We're just a tad uneasy about the fire breathing lizards," the sniper replied.

"You have guns. Use them."

"Promise me little man, if I catch fire you will not throw jar at me," the heavy said to the sniper.

"Come on mate, just tryin' to help."

"Having mixture of glass and urine all over myself is not something I wish to relive."

"Don't worry heavy, I will heal you if you happen to be ignited by any fire lizards," the medic said.

"You can have this discussion in there, get moving!" Melody interrupted them.

"So just to recap, are these lizards open game?" The soldier asked.

"Honestly, I'd say no, the only reason that man had the drone attack it was because it threatened it, we can't be sure if they're inherently hostile."

"Does giving an evil glare count as hostility?"

"Unless it starts spewing fire at you, don't shoot it; and try to keep your weapons concealed."

"But how will I hide Sasha?" the heavy asked.

"I'd consider just leaving it here for now, you have your shotgun, and you can probably beat most things to death..." Melody paused, "We'll set up base in there once we have word from Fawkes' squad, as well as from the lot of you, now stop wasting time and go!"

The mercenaries made their way towards the wormhole, the heavy having somehow concealed his weapon despite its size once he drew his fists to charge in.

Far away from the site of the wormhole, Zerstorung spoke with the sole purveyor of the contents of the wormhole.

"You will go alone, as you've proved yourself in the past as being stealthy enough for a task that would require drawing no attention from either the residents or invaders," Zerstorung said.

"Save for, of course, my pet," the man said, referring to the nearby raptor.

"Ah yes, it'll be going as well, but I only require that you relay information from the area until we can find other means of watching them."

"If I remember correctly, my orders were to only perform reconnaissance, kill no one?"

"Correct, I will personally contact you once we've found a way to patrol the area as covertly as possible. You may now make your way to the portal room," the man exited Zerstorung's presence, moving towards a nearby room sporting a smaller version of the wormhole in Tours.

"Do remember you're given permission to slay anything that threatens you, just hide the body," a man near the portal said.

"I'll be fine in there, Master Esool," the man replied.

"Your previous work has proved you to be one of our best, it'd be a shame to lose you."

"It's either me or no one, doubt one of those Reapers could go in there without slaughtering everything."

"Some of them have proved to be moderately intelligent...but that's beside the point, just remember to check in as much as possible, especially if the WPA or the States make any progress," the man nodded as Esool watched him enter the portal.


End file.
